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^P EotJoIfo ianciani.

ANCIENT ROME IN THE LIGHT OF RECENT
DISCOVERIES. With 36 full-page Plates (includ-
ing several Heliotypes) and 64 Text Illustrations,
Maps, and Plans. 8vo, ^6.00.

f ITINERARIO Dl EINSIEDELN E L' ORDINE
Dl BENEDETTI CANONICO. Memoria di Ro-
dolfo Lanciani. With Map, Plans, etc. 4to, paper,
$2. 25.

PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN ROME. Profusely Illus-
trated with full-page Plates and Text Illustrations.
8vo, 56.00.

THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF ANCIENT
ROME. Profusely Illustrated. Crown Svo, Ji54. 00.

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
Boston and New York.

THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS

ANCIENT ROME

Flg,l.

HYDRO GRAPH V &

CHOROGRAPHY

OF ANCIENT ROM&

Scale I: mO(W
. lllitiide,s in me^erS

Ji.J,anciant. de^

• SALARIA ^

'tP NOME NT

THE

RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS

ANCIENT ROME

A COMPANION BOOK FOR STUDENTS
AND TRAVELERS

RODOLFO LANCIANI

D. C. L. Oxford, LL. D. Harvard.

PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT TOPOGRAPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ROME

AUTHOR OF "ancient ROME IN THE LIGHT OF RECENT DISCOVERIES,"' " PAGAN

AND CHRISTIAN ROME,"' " FORMA URBIS ROMAE," ETC.

... Si quid novlsti rectius istis,
candidus imperil : si non, his utere mecum.
Horace, Epistles, i. 6. 67.

BOSTON AND NEW YORK

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY

(Hbe Wtcrsibc l^rcss, CambtiDfle

1897

PEEFACE

In writing the present volume the author does not intend to
publish a complete manual of Roman Topography, but only a
companion-book for students and travelers who visit the existing
remains and study the latest excavations of ancient Rome. The
text, therefore, has been adapted to the requirements of both
classes of readers. Students wishing to attain a higher degree of
efficiency in this branch of Roman archeology will find copious
references to the standard publications on each subject or part of
a subject ; while the description of ruins and excavations will not
be found too technical or one-sided for the ordinary reader.
Special attention has been paid to tracing back to their place of
origin the spoils of each monument, now dispersed in the museums
of Rome, Italy, and the rest of Europe. The reader, being in-
formed what these spoils are, when they were carried away, and
where they are to be found at present, will be able to form a more
correct idea of the former aspect of Roman monuments than
would otherwise be possible. The volume also contains some
tables, which will be found useful for quick and easy reference
to the chronology of buildings, to events in the history of the
city, and to the various aspects of Roman civilization. It may
be observed, in the last place, that the illustrations of the text
are mostly original, from drawings and photographs prepared
expressly for this work.

The publications of the author to which reference is constantly
made are : —

Ancient Rome in the Lif/ht of Recent Discoveries. Boston, 1889, Houghton,
MifBin, & Co. London, Macmillan. — Pagan and Christian Rome. Boston
and London, 1893. — Forma Urbis Romce, an archaeological map of the city, in
forty-six sheets, scale 1 : 1000, published under the auspices of the Royal
Academy dei Lincei, by Hoepli, Milan. Twenty-four sheets already issued.

vi PREFACE

The remains of ancient Rome can be studied in books or on the
spot from three points of view, — tlie chronological, the topographi-
cal, and the architectural. The chronological brings the student
into contact, first, with the remains of the Kingly period, then
with those of the Republic, of the Empire, of the Byzantine and
Mediaeval periods. The topographical takes into consideration,
first, the main lines of the ancient city, and then each of the four-
teen wards or regions into which Rome was divided by Augustus.
The architectural groups the monuments in classes, like temples,
baths, tombs, bridges, etc.

Each system has its own advantages, and claims representative
writers. The chronological order helps us to follow the progress
of Roman architecture, from the rude attempts of Etruscan
masons to the golden centuries of Agrippa and Apollodorus ; as
well as the evolution of architectural tyj^es, from the round straw
hut where the public fire was kept to the marble temple of Hestia,
roofed with tiles of bronze ; from the Casa Romuli to the Domus
Aurea of Nero.

Dyer's History of Rome is founded mainly on this system.
Compare also chapters iii. and iv. (pp. 24—59) of Richter's Topo-
(frapJiie, Parker's Chronological Tables, and Lanciani's Vicende
edilizie di Roma,^

The topographical system, which divides the city into regions
and suburbs, is represented by Nardini and Canina.^ They de-
scribe first the fundamental lines, — site, geology, climate, hydro-
graphy, the seven hills, the Kingly and Imperial walls, the Tiber,
the aqueducts, the military roads radiating from the gates ; and

1 Thomas H. Dyer, A History of the City of Rome : Its Structures and
Monuments. London, Longmans, 1865. — Rodolfo Lanciani, Sidle ricende
edilizie di Roma, reprinted from the Monograjia archeologica e statistica di
Roma e camparpia. Rome. Tipogr. elzevir. 1878. — John Henry Parker, A
Chronological Table of Buildings in Rome, with the Chief Contemporary
Events, and an Alphabetical Index, reprinted from the Ai-chceology of Rome. —
Otto Richter, Topographic der Stadt Rom. Sep.-Abdr. aus dem Handbuch der
klassischen Alterthumwissenschaft, Bd. iii. Nordlingen, Beck, 1889, ch. iii.,
"Entwickhingsgeschichte," and ch. iv., " Zerstorungsgeschichte der Stadt."

2 Famiano Nardini, Roma antica di Famiano Nardini, fourth edition,
revised by Antonio Nibbj', and illustrated by Antonio de Romanis. Rome,
de Romanis, 1818 (four vols.). — Luigi Canina, Indicazione topografica di
Roma antica, fourth edition. Rome, Canina, 1850.

PREFACE vii

then the monuments pertaining to the fourteen regions. Their
accounts are founded mainly on otficial statistics of the fourtli
century, of which we possess two editions (Redaktionen). The
first, known by the name of Notitia regionum urbis Romce cum
hreviariis suis, dates from a. d. 334 ; the second, called Curiosum
urbis Romce regionum XIV cum breviariis suis, must have been
issued in or after 357, because it mentions the obelisk raised in
that year in the Circus Maximus.

Literature. — Ludwig Preller, Die Regionen der Stadt Rom. Jena, 1846. —
Theodor Mommsen, Abhandhmgen der sacks. Ges. d. W., ii. 549; iii. 269;
viii. 694. — Heinrieh Jordan, Topographic d. Stadt Rom in AUerthum., Berlin,
1871, vol. ii. p. 1. — Ignazio Guidi, 11 testo sirtaco della descrizione di Roma,
in Bull, com., 1884, p. 218. — Christian Huelsen, // posto degli Arvali nel
Colosseo, in Bull, com., 1894, p. .312. — Rodolfo Lanciani, Le quattordici
regioni urbane, in Bull, com., 1890, p. 11.5.

The two documents give the number and name of each region,
the names of edifices or streets which marked approximately
its boundary line, the number of parLslies (vici), of parish magis-
trates (vico magistri), the number of tenement houses (insulce),
palaces (dotnus), public warehouses (Jwrrea), baths, fountains,
bakeries, and the circumference of each regio in feet. For in-
stance : —

" Regio V, tlie Esquilise, contains : the fountain of Orpheus,
the market of Livia, the nymphseum of (Severus) Alexander, the
(barracks of the) .second cohort of policemen (firemen), the gar-
dens of Pallans, the (street named from the) Hercules Sullanus,
the Amphitheatrum Castrense, the campus on the Viminal, the
(street called) Subager, the (street called) Minerva Medica, the
(.street named from) Isis the patrician. The Esquilise contain
15 parishes, 15 street-shrines, 48 parish officials and two liigher
officials (curatores), 3,8.50 tenement houses, 180 palaces, 22 public
warehouses, 25 baths, 74 fountains, 15 bakeries. The Esquiliae
measure 15,600 feet in circumference."

Comparing these statistics with texts of classics, inscriptions,
existing remains, accounts of former discoveries, plans and draw-
ings of the artists of the Renaissance, and other sources of infor-
mation, we are able to reconstruct, with surprising results, the
topography of the whole city.

Vlll PREFACE

The system, therefore, is highly commendable, and I follow
it myself, in my university course of lectures, as the one best
calculated, from its simplicity and clearness, to make the student
conversant with this branch of Roman archaeology.

The third, or architectural, system takes each class of build-
ings separately, and groups temples, theatres, fora, baths, etc.,
by themselves, irrespective of their position and their relation
to other buildings. It might be compared with the study of a
museum, like the Museo Nazionale of Naples, in which statues
are arranged by subjects, one room containing only Venuses,
another only Fauns, etc. The system facilitates the comparison
of types and schools, and the study of the origin, progress, and
decline of art among the Romans.

The representative works of this kind are Nibby's Roma nelV
anno 1838, and Canina's Edifizii di R. A.'^

It is impossible to deny that a system which may be use-
ful for university work, and for a limited number of specialists,
cannot also suit the student or the traveler who does not visit
our ruins by regions, but according to the main centres of inter-
est and of actual excavations. Were we to follow the architectu-
ral system in the strict sense of the word, we should be compelled
to study the Forum with no regard to the temples, basilicas, and
triumphal arches which lined its border or covered its area,
because they belong to another class of structures. Suppose,
again, we were bound to proceed in our study strictly by regions :
we should be compelled to separate the Coliseum from its accessory
buildings, in which gladiators, athletes, wild beasts, and their
hunters were quartered, fed, and trained ; from the armories, in
which gladiatorial and hunting weapons were made, kept, and
repaired ; from the barracks of the marines of the fleet of Ra-
venna and Misenum, to whom the manoeuvring of the velaria
was intrusted ; from the " morgue," whither the spoils of the
slain in the arena were temporarily removed, — simply because
the samiarium, spoliarlum, and armamentarium belonged to the

1 Antonio Nibbj', Roma neW anno mdcccxxxviii. Parte prima antica, vols.
i., ii. Rome, 1838. — Luigi Canina, Gli tdijizi di R. A. e sua campagna/in
six folio volumes. Rome, 1847-1854.

PREFACE IX

second regio ; the amphitheatre itself, the Caslra Misenatium, the
Summum Choragium to the third; the Ampliitheatrum Castrense to
the fifth ; the virarium to the sixth.

To avoid these difficulties, the compilers of the Beschreihung,
as well as Becker, Bum, Jordan, Richter, Gilbert, Middleton, and
others,^ have adopted a mixed system, taking the best from each
of the three methods described above. They have divided and
described the city in large sections, more or less connected by
topographical or historical relationship. Richter, for instance,
cuts ancient Rome in four parts : " das Zentrura," which embraces
the Palatine and Capitoline hills, the Velia, the Circus Maximus,
and the great Fora of the Empire ; " die Stadttheile am Tiber,"
which comprises the Aventine, the market, the Campus ^lartius,
and the transtiberine quarters ; " der sUdosten Roms," made up
of the Caelian and of the suburbs on the Appian Way ; and lastly
" der osten Roms," with the Esquiline, Viminal, Quirinal, and
Pincian hills. Richter's scheme is plainly arbitrary, and might
be varied ad libitum without interfering with the spirit or dimin-
ishing the importance of liis work. The same criticism applies
to the other manuals of the same type.

Considering that " facile est inventis addere," and that the
exi>erience of others must teach us how to find a better solution
of the problem, I propose to adopt the following scheme : —

In Book I. the fundamental lines of Roman topography will be
described, — site, geology, configuration of soil, malaria, climate,
rivers and springs, aqueducts and drains, walls and roads.

The Palatine hill, on which the city was founded and the seat
of the Empire established in progress of time, will be visited
next (Book II.).

In Book III. a description of the Sacra Via will be given, from

its origin near the Coliseum to its end near the Capitolium. The

1 Platner, Bunsen, Gerhard, Rostell, Urlichs, Beschreihung der Stadt Rom.
Stuttgart, 1830-1842. — Adolf Becker, Hnndburk der Riimischen Alierthumer.
Erster Theil. Leipzig, 1843. — Robert Burn, Rome and the Campagnn, Lon-
don, 1871; 0/rf /?((/» p, 1880. Second edition, 1895. — Heinrich Jordan, Topo-
graphie der Stadt Rom in Alterthum, voL i., i.2, ii. Berlin, 1871. — Otto
Gilbert, Geschichte und Topographie der Stadt Rom. 1883-1885. — Otto Rich-
ter, Topograph ie drr Stadt Rom. Nurdlingen, 1S89. — T. Henry Middleton,
The Remains of Ancient Rome. Two vols. London, 1892.

X PREFACE

Sacra Via, the Forum (with its extensions), and the Capitoline
hill contain the oldest relics of Kingly and Republican Rome.
They are lined or covei'ed by the grandest monuments of the
Empire ; they have been largely if not completely excavated since
1870 ; and every inch of ground they cross or cover is connected
with historical events. Beginning, therefore, from such centres
of interest as the Palatine and the Sacra Via, we follow the
chronological and topographical systems.

The rest of the city will be described in Book IV. by the
regions of Augustus in the following order : —

1. The ruins of the Cselian hill and its watershed towards the
river Almo (Regions I and II).

2. The ruins of the Oppian (Regio III).

3. The Viminal, the Cespiau, the Subura, and the Vicus Patri-
cii (Regio IV).

4. The Esquiline (Regio V).

5. The Quirinal and the Pincian, and their watershed towards
the Tiber (Regions VI and VII).

6. The Campus Martins (Regio IX).

7. The markets, the docks, the warehouses, the harbor on the
left bank of the river.

8. The Circus Maximus (Regio XI).

9. The Aventine (Regions XII and XIII).

10. The Trastevere (Regio XIV).

Each of these sections has a characteristic of its own. The
Cselian may be called the region of barracks, the Esquiline the
region of parks, the Quirinal and Aventine the abode of the aris-
tocracy. The Coliseum and its dependencies occupied the greater
portion of the Oppian. The Trastevere was the popular quarter
par excellence. Their description, therefore, from a topographical
point of view, is not only rational but lends itself to the grouping
of edifices built for the same object, and sometimes by the same
man and at the same time.

At all events, as it may suit the reader to study the monuments
in a different order, I have added two indexes, in the first of
which the existing remains of Ancient Rome are named alpha-
betically in architectural groups, and in the second according to

PREFACE XI

their chronology. The name of each is followed by the number
of the page or section in which it is described.

Before closing this brief preface, I must warn students against
a tendency which is occasionally observable in books and papers
on the topography of Rome, — that of upsetting and condemning
all received notions on the subject, in order to substitute fanciful
theories of a new type. They nuist remember that the study of
this fascinating subject began with Poggio Bracciolini and Flavio
Biondo early in the fifteenth century, and that in the course of
four hundred and fifty years it must have been very closely inves-
tigated. In the preface to the Indicazione topograjica, pp. 4-25
(1850), Canina registers 124 standard authorities, whose books
would make a library of a thousand volumes. Since 18.50 the
number of such volumes has doubled. See in Enrico Narducci's
lilhUografia topograjica di Roma a list (imperfect) of those pub-
lished between 1850 and 1880. The same bibliographer has given
us a list (also imperfect) of over 400 works on the Tiber alone.^
In the fourteenth volume of the Arckivio della Socieia rnmana
di storia patria, 424 publications on the history and topography
of the city are catalogued for 1891 alone. How is it possible
that, in four hundred and fifty years' time, the antiquaries of the
Italian, (iernuin, and English schools, working harmoniously,
should not have discovered the truth? This does not exclude
the possibility that new researches, either on the ground or in
libraries and archives, may reveal new data and enal)le the
student to perfect the system of Roman topography in its details,
but great innovations are hardly to be expected. Yet there
are people willing to try the experiment, only to waste their
own time and make us lose ours in considering their attempts.
Temples of the gods are cast away from their august seats, and
relegated to places never heard of before ; gates of the city are
swept away in a whiiiwind till they fly before our eyes like one of
Dante's visions ; diminutive ruins are magnified into the remains
of great historical buildings ; designs are produced of monuments
which have never existed. Let each of us be satisfied with a
modest share in the work of reconstruction of the great city,

1 Sarjrjio di bibllograjia del Tevere di Enrico Narducci, Rome, Civelli, 1876.

XU PREFACE

remembering that both the Roma sotterranea Cristiana and Rome
the capital of the Empire have long since found their Columbus.

The periodicals and books most frequently quoted in this work
are : —

(Bull, com.) BulleUino della Commissione archeologica comunale di Roma,
1872-1895. 23 vols., superbly illustrated. — (Not. Scavi) Notizie der/li Scavi
di anticMta pubblicate per cura della r. accadeviia dei Lincei, 1876-1895. 20
vols., illustrated. — (Bull. Inst.) BulleUino dell' Istituto di corrispondenza
archeoloyica, 1829-1885. 57 vols. — (Ann. Inst.) Annali dell' Istituto di
corrispondenza archeologica, 1829-1885. 54 vols. — (Mittheil.) Mittheilungen
des kaiserlich Deutschen archaeol. Instituts, Roemische Abtheilung, 1886-1895.
10 vols., illustrated. — (.Tahrbuch) Jahrhuch des k. D. archaeol. Instituts,
1886-1895. 10 vols., illustrated (Denkmaler). — (F. U. R.) Forma Urbis
Romm, consilio et auctoritate R. Academiw Lyncceorum . . . edidit Rodul-
phns Lanciani Romamis, in 46 sheets.— (C. I. L.) Corpus Inscriptionum Lati-
narum, vols, i., vi. 1, 2, 3, 4, xiv., and xv. 1.

CONTENTS

Book I. — General Information

PAGE

I. Site — Geology — Configuration of Soil 1

II. Geologj' 5

III. Malaria 6

IV. Climate 8

V. Hydrography — Rivers, Springs, Ponds, Marshes . . '.)

VI. Bridges 16

VII. Traiectus (ferries) 2fi

VIII. Objects of Value in the Bed of the River 2<)

IX. CloaciP (drains) 28

X. The Quarries from which Rome was built .32

(a) Tufa (lapis ruber) .32

(b) Pepcrino (lapis Albanus) 34

(d) Silex (selce) ,38

XI. Bricks 38

XII. ]\Iarbles 42

XIII. Methods of Construction 43

XIV. Aqueducts 47

XV. Muri Urbis (the Walls) 59

XVI. Murus Romuli (Walls of the Palatine) 59

XVII. Other Walls of the Kingly Period 60

XVIII. The Walls of Servius TuUius 60

XIX. Walls of Aurelian and Probus, a. d. 272 .... 66

XX. Restoration of the Walls by Honorius 72

XXI. Gates of Aurelian and Honorius 73

XXII. Walls of Leo IV., Leopolis, .lohannipolis, Laurentiopolis . 80

XXIII. The Fortifications of Paul III., Pius IV., and Urban VIII. . 84

XXIV. Modern Fortifications 86

XXV. The Fourteen Regions of Augustus 87

XXVI. The Population of Ancient Rome 91

XXVII. The Map of Rome engraved on Marble under Severus and

Caracalla 94

XXVIII. The Burial of Rome .98

Book II. — The Ruins and Excavations of the Palatine

I. Hints to Visitors 106

II. The Origin of the Palatine City 110

III. Vigna Nusiner 118

xiv CONTENTS

IV. Templum divi Augusti (Temple of Augustus) . . . 121

V. Fons Juturnae (the Springs of Juturna) 123

VI. The Clivus Victoriae 125

VII. The Church of S. Teodoro 126

VIII. Murus Romuli 126

IX. The Altar of Aius Locutius 127

X. ScalfB Caci (steps of Cacius) 129

XI. Casa Romuli (the Hut of Romulus) 1-30

XII. The Old Stone Quarries 131

XIII. iEdes Magna- Deum Matris (Temple of Cybele) .... 132

XIV. .(Edes lovis Propugnatoris in Palatio (Temple of Jupiter Pro-

piignator) 135

XV. Domus Augustana (House of Augustus) 138

XVI. Domus Tiberiana (House of Tiberius) 144

XVII. House of Germanicus 147

XVIII. Domus Gaiana (House of Caligula) ..... 150

XIX. The Palace of Domitian 155

XX. The Gardens of Adonis (Horti Adonsa — Vigna Barberini) . 165

XXI. MediaBval Church Buildings 168

(a) Ecclesia S. Caesarii in Palatio 169

(b) Monasterium quod Palladium dicitur .... 170

XXII. The so-called Stadium (Xystus) 172

XXIII. The Palace of Septimius Severus (fedes Severiaute) . . 178

XXIV. The Septizonium 181

XXV. The Water Supply and Reservoirs of the Palace . . .184

XXVI. The P.edagogium and the Domus Gelotiana .... 185

Book III. — A Walk through the Sacra Via from the
Coliseum to the Capitoline Hill

I. The Sacra Via 188

II. The Colossus (colossal statue of the Sun) .... 190

III. Meta Sudans 190

IV. The Arch of Constantine 191

V. iEdes Romae et Veneris (Temple of Venus and Rome) . 194

VI. Baths of Heliogabalus (?). See Ecclesia S. Cresarii in Pa-
latio, 169 . 198

VII. Turris Chartularia 198

VIII. The Temple of .Jupiter Stator 198

IX. The Arch of Titus 199

X. Basilica Nova (Basilica of Constantine) .... 201

XI. The Clivus Sacer 206

XII. Porticus Margaritaria 207

XIII. The Hereon Romuli (Temple of Romulus, son of Maxen-

tius) 209

XIV. Templum Sacra? Urbis (archives of the Cadastre) . . . 211
XV. Fornix Fabianus (Arch of Q. Fabius Allobrogicus) . . 215

CONTEXTS

XVI. ^Edes divi Pii et diva- Faustin* (Temple of Antoninus and

Faustina)

XVII. The Kegia

XVIII. The Temple of Vesta

XIX. The Shrine

XX. Atrium Vestaj (House of the Vestals) .

XXI. Forum Romanum Magnum .....

XXII. Area of the Forum

XXIII. Columna liostrata

XXIV. The Sculptured Plutei

XXV. Monumental Columns on the Saera Via .

XXVI. The Caballus Constantini (Eciuestriau Statue of Constautine)

XXVII. Unknown Building on the east side, opposite the Temple o

.Julius . ■

XXVIII. Monuments of the Gothic and (iildonie Wars .

XXIX, The ('niumn of I'hocas

XXX. Curia Hostilia — Curia .lulia — Senatus .

XXXI. The Comitium

XXXII. yEdes divi lulii (Temple of .lulius Ca-sar)

XXXIII. Triumphal Arch of Augustus

XXXIV. iEdes Castorum (Temple of Castor and I'oUux)
XXXV. Vicus Tuscus

XXXVI. Basilica .lulia

XXXVII. Vicus Jugarius ........

XXXVIII. The Rostra Vetera

XXXIX. Genius I'opuli Romani — Milliarium Aureum — Umhilic

XL. The Church of SS. Scrgius and Bacchus

XLI. The Arch of Tiherius

XLII. The Arch of Sc|)timius Severus ....

XLIII. The Career Tullianum .......

XLIV. ^'Edes Concordia- (Temple of Concord) .

XLV. The Clivus Capitolinus

XLVI. Temple of Vespasian

XLVII. yEdes Saturni (Temple of Saturn)

XLVIII. Porticus Deorum Consentium (Portico of the Twelve Gods)

XLIX. Tabularium ..........

L. C!apitolium (Temple of .Jupiter Optimus Maximus)

LI. Forum .Juliuni .........

LII. Forum Augustum ........

LIII. Forum Transitorium ........

LIV. Forum Traiani .........

216

219
221
221
22(i
232
251
251
251
258
2.58

25U
25!)
260
262
266
2t!7
26!J
26!)
273
27.3

278
270
280
282
282
285
286
288
288
291
292
2'.y.i
296
•■500
;j()2
.307
.311

Book IV. — Urbs Sacra Regionum XIV

I. The Ruins of the Cadian Hill, Regio I, Porta Capena . . 320

II. Hypog:cum Scipionum ........ 321

III. The Columbaria (so-called) of Pomponius Ilj-las . . 327

rV. The Columbaria of the Vigna Codini 328

V. Regio II, Cadimontium (the Cadian Hill) .... 335

CONTENTS

VI. The Castra Cielimontaiia ....

(a) The Castra Ecjuitiun Siugularium

(b) The Castra Peregrinuriim

(a) Domus Lateranuruni (Lateral! Palaee)

(b) Domus Vectiliana ....

(d) Domus Valeriorum

(e) Domus Philippi ....

(f) Domus L. Marii Maximi

(g) Domus of the Symmachi .
(h) The House of SS. Joliii and Paul
( I ) The House of Gregory the Great

VIII. Claudium (Temple of Claudius)
IX. Macellum (S. Stefauo Rotondo) .
X. The Ruins of the Oppiau, Regio III, Isis et Serapis
XI. Domus Aurea (The Golden House of Nero)
XII. Thermie Titian* (Baths of Titus)

XIII. ThermiE Triani (Baths of Trajan)

XIV. Amphitheatrum Flaviuni (Coliseum)

XV. Buildings connected with the Amphitheatre ....

The Vivarium

The Amphitheatrum Castrense

The Claudium

The Samiarium

The Spoliarium

The Armamentarium

The Ludi Gladiatorii

The Summum Choragium

The Castra Misenatium

The Curia Athletarum

XVI. The Viminal, the Cespian, the Subura, andtlieVicus Patricii,

Regio IV

XVII. The Subura

XVIII. The Vicus Patricii

XIX. Private Dwellings

XX. The Great Parks on the Eastern Side of the City, Regions V.

VI, and VII

XXI. Horti Variani

XXII. Horti Liciniani

XXIII. Horti Tauriani

XXIV. Horti Lamiani et Maiani

XXV. Horti Maeceuatis

XXVI. Horti Lolliani

XXVII. Horti Sallustiani

XXVIII. Horti Luculliani

XXIX. Horti Aciliani

XXX. Public Buildings

336

338

339

344

345

346

348

349

350

353

357

358

363

365

367

383

385

386

387

388
388
390
391

394
395
400
404
406
409
412
413
419
419
427

XXXI.

XXXII.

XXXIII.

XXXIV.

XXXV.

XXXVI.

XXXVII.

XXXVIII.

XXXIX.

XL.

XLI.

XLII.
XLIII.
XLIV.

XLV.
XLVI.

XLVII.

XLVIII.

XLIX.

LI.

LI I.

LIII.

LIV.

LV.

LVI.

LVII.

LVIII.

LIX.

LX.

LXI.

LXII.

LXIII.

LXIV.

LXV.

LXVI.

LXVII.

LXVIII.

LXIX.

LXX.

COXTENTS XVU

Templiim Solis Aureliaui ....... 428

Tlierm:e Diocletiana; 432

L'astra Pra-loria ......... 437

The Campus Martins and tlu- (Jiixus Flaininius, Regio IX . 440

Tlie Taieiituni 446

Campus ^lartius 448

Circus Flamiuius ......... 450

Rta1)uia (|uatut>r Factionum VI 454

TiMiiplum Ilcrculis magni Custodis ad (Jircuni Flaniinium . 4.55

The Fdriini Holitorium and its Kditii'es 458

(A) .Edes Spc-i 458

(u) .Edcs Pietatis 4-58

(d) Tcmplum laiii 458

The I'oiupfiaii Buildiiif^s 459

Mausoleum nf Augustus 461

Horologium or Sohirium (sun-dial) 464

Ara Paris Augusta- 466

Opera 8. Porticus Octavia' 466

The Moiiumenta Agrippa- 470

Porticus Piilla' or Vipsauia ...... 47(1

Campus Agriiijiu' . . . ■ . • • .471
Diribitorium . . . . • .471

Saipta lulia . . . .471

Villa Puhlica 472

Pautlu'uii 473

Lakonikon 48(i

Basilica Xcptuiii, Xciitiiiiium, Porticus Arguuautaruni . . 487

Thcatrum Marcclli 4'.t()

Thcatruui ct < ivpta Hallii 493

Odeum . 496

Stadium 496

Therma' Xeroiiiame ct Alc.xaiidriaua- ..... 498

Isium ct Scra](imn ......... .500

Tcmiilum Matidia' ........ •502

The Antouinc Buildings .503

The Commcn'ial (,»nartcrs on the Left Bank of the Tiber . .509
Forum Ildlitnriuin ......... 511

Forum Boarium ......... 512

Temi)luni Fortuna- 514

Tcmiilum ^latris Matnta-- ....... 515

Tcmplum Ccrcris Lilieri Libcra'i|uc ...... 516

The .laiius and the Arch of Sevcrns and (aiacalla . . 518

Statio Annonic 519

The Ilorrca Puhlica Populi Romani .522

Tile Marble Wharf and Sheds .524

Salina' (the Salt-AVarchouses) .527

The Lead-Warehouses 528

The Brick- Warehouses 529

xviii CONTENTS

LXXI. The Monte Testaccio 521)

LXXII. The Aventine, Eegion^ XII and XIII — Theniui' AutoniniaiKv 5.'32

LXXIII. Churches and Palaces on the Aventine .... 540

LXXIV. The Thernite Deciana; 542

LXXV. The Escubitorium Coh • YII • Vigilum .... 544

LXXVI. Horti Csesaris 546

I.XXYII. Horti Get* 548

LXXVIII. Horti AgrippiniB 548

LXXIX. Mausoleum Hadriani 551

Conclusion : The General Aspect of the City 561

Appendix.

A. Comparison between Years of the Christian and the Roman Eras . 571

B. Chronological List of Roman Emperors 571

C. Chronological List of the First Kings of Italy 578

D. Chronological List of the Popes 578

E. Al]ihabetical List of Painters, Sculptors, and Architects mentioned in

this Book 586

F. lioman Coins ........... 586

G. Roman Measures of Length . 588

H. Roman Weights 588

I. The Roman Calendar 589

J. A List of Ancient Marbles . 589

Indexes.

I. The Existing Remains of Ancient Rome described Alphabetically in

Architectural Groups.
II. The Existing Remains of Ancient Rome described in Chronological Order.

LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS

FIG. PAGE

1. Map of Hydrofjrapliy ami Chorotrraphy of Ancient Rome. Fmnti.-tpitcf

2. The Clifts of the ( 'a]>itciliiie Hill above "La Coiisolazione " . . 2
.J. Section of tlie (jiiirinal Hill -i

4. Curve of the Flood of December, 187(1 11

5. Modern Embankment ......... 1.3

6. Ancient Embankment ......... I'-i

7. The Mouth of the Tiber at Fiumicino ...... 14

8. The ^Emilian, Fabrician, ( 'estian Hridj^es, and the Island in the Tiber 17

9. The .Stern of the Ship of .Esculai)ius lit

10. iMuindations of Hridf^e (?) above the I'onte Sisto . . . . -21

11. The Incline to the ^Elian Bridge from the Campus Martins (Left

Bank) 23

12. Bronze Head found in the Tiber 25

13. Statue found in the Tiber 28

14. The Course of the Cloaca Maxima ....... 2!)

1-5. The Latrina annexed to the Guest-Hooms of the Villa Adriana . 32

16. The Quarries of Travertine, Cava del Barco 37

17. The Opus Incertum 44

18. The Opus Keticulatum 40

19. Map of A(|ueducts 47

20. The Channel of the Aqua Appia under the Aventine ... 48

21. Ponte Lu])o .50

22. The Aqueducts at Roma Vecchia .52

23. The Seven Aqueducts at the Porta Maggiore 55

24. :\Iap of AValls 59

25. Section of Walls 61

21). Section of Agger 62

27. Forum Boarium 63

28. The Ditch of the Agger of Servius 65

29. Walls of Servius on the Aventine 67

30. The Covered Way of the Walls of Aurelian, Vigna Casali . . 69

31. The Porta S. Lorenzo 76

32. Door of the First Century built into the Walls of Aurelian . . 79

33. The Two Towers at the Entrance to the Harbor of Rome . . 80

34. Tower of Leo IV. in the Vatican Gardens. Bastions of Pius IV. in

the Foreground 83

35. The Fortifications of Laurentiopolis. By M. Ileemskerk . . 85

XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

36. The French Army entering the Porta S. Pancrazio, Julj- 4, 1849 . 87

37. Sketch-Map of the Fourteen Eegions of Augustus .... 89

38. The Fragment of the Marble Plan discovered by Castellani and

Tocco in 1867 97

39. The Eeraains of a Private House discovered under the Baths of

Caracalla by G. B. Guidi, 1867 ....... 101

40. Sketch-Map of Excavations of Palatine 108

41. Map of Ancient and Modern Divisions of the Palatine Hill . . 110

42. Plan of AntemniB . 112

43. Reservoir at Antemnie 112

44. Plan of Kingly Palatine 113

45. A Village of Straw Huts near Gabii (Castiglione) .... 114

46. Plan of the Terramara di Fontanellato 115

47. A Fragment of the Marble Plan -with C'livus Victori;e and Vicus

Tuscus 120

48. Plan of the Augiistivum 122

49. General View of West Corner of Palatine Hill .... 128

50. Hut-urn from Alba Longa .131

51. Headless Statue of Cybele, found near her Temple on the Palatine 134

52. The Cybele from Foniiiiv 136

53. Plan of the Domus Augustana, Ground Floor 139

54. Plan of the Domus Tiberiana and of the Domus Gaiana . . 145

55. A Graffito of the Domus Tiberiana 147

56. The Remains of tlie Palace of Caligula, seen from the Sacra Via . 151

57. A Corner of the Palace of Caligula according to Rosa's Map . . 152

58. The Same, designed in Sheet xxix. of the "Forma Urbis " . . 153

59. A Brick Stamp of John VII 155

60. Plan of Domitian's Palace 157

61. The Horti Adonea, a Fragment of the Marble Plan of Rome . . 166

62. Plan of the Horti Adonea (?), according to Ligorio . . • 167

63. The Church of S. Cwsarius in Palatio " 169

64. The Torre Cartnlaria in the Sixteenth Century .... 172

65. Headless Statue of a Muse discovered in the so-called Stadium . 175

66. Female Head of Greek Workmanship discovered in the so-called

Stadium. ........... 177

67. Substructures of the I'alace of Septimius Severus, as seen fmm the

Aventine 179

68. The Remains of the ^des Severiante and of the Septizonium, from

a Sketch by Du Cerceau 182

69. The Aqueduct of the Palatine across the Valley of S. Gregorio . 184

70. Plan of the Domus Gelotiana 185

71. One of the Walls of the Pajdagogium with Greek and Latin Graffiti 186

72. Map of the Sacra Via 188

73. The Arch of Constantine in Botticelli's "Castigodel fuoco celeste,"

Sistine Chapel 193

74. Plan of the Temple of Venus and Rome 195

75. Bas-relief of the Temple of Venus and Rome 197

76. Arch of Titus — Temple of .Tupiter Statnr in tlie Bas-relief of the

Aterii 199

77. Plan of Neighborhood of the Arch of Titus 199

LTST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxi

78. The Siinima Sacra Via, witli Arch of Titus and Temple of Jupiter

Stator 200

79. Plan of Constantine's Basilica 202

80. The Basilica of Constantiue at the Time of Paul V. . . . 203

81. The Arco di Latrone under the Basilica of Constantiue . . 205

82. Plan of Clivus Sacer 207

83. Plan of Porticus Margaritaria 208

84. The Portico of the Heroon Romuli 210

85. Plan of SS. Cosma e Damiano 211

86. The Church of SS. Cosma e Damiano in the Middle Ages . . 212

87. The Church of SS. Cosma e Damiano at the End of the Sixteenth

Century 213

88. The Frieze of the Temple of Faustina 217

89. Graffiti on the Carystian Columns of tlie Temple of Faustina . 218

90. The Regia, as designed by Pirro Ligorio 220

91. Temples of Vesta and Castores (Auer's Reconstruction) . . 223

92. Plan of Atrium and Temple of Vesta 225

93. Map of Forum and of Basilica .lulia 251

94. The Margo of the Forum ......... 253

95. The Fragments of the Marlde I'iutei, discovered in Sejjtember,

1872 255

90. One of the Marble Plutei, after Restoration 256

97. The Rostra as represented in a Bas-relief of the Arch of Constantine 257

98. The Column of Phoeas — thi' IMarlih; IMutei in the Foreground . 261

99. Plan of the Senate House, rebuilt bv Diocletian .... 263

264
265
268
269
272
274
276
281

100. The Marble Incrustations of the Senate Hal! . . . .

101. Details of Cornice of the Senate Hall

102. The Rostra .Julia and tiie Temple of Ctvsar

103. Fragment of the Afarljle Plan with Temple of Castores

104. The Substructure of the Temple of Castores ....

105. The Southwest Corner of the Basilica Julia ....

106. General View of the Basilica -Julia ......

107. The Church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus, sketclied by Heemskerk

108. Pedestals of Columns, Arcli of Severus ..... 283

109. A Fruiterer's Siiop under the Arcli of Severus .... 284

110. The Clivus Capitolinus, now concealed by the Modern (1880)

Causeway 289

111. The Frieze'of the Temple of Vespasian 290

112. The Porticus Consentium 293

113. Old Gate of Tabularium blocked by Teuii)le of Vespasian . . 295

114. Remains of the Platform of the Cuiiitolium in the Garden of the

Caffarelli Palace 298

115. The Venus Genetrix l)y Arkesilaos — a Frngnieiit in the Museo delle

Terme 301

lie. Plan of the Forum Augustum ....... 303

117. The South Hemicycle of the Forum Augustum, excavated in 1888 305

118. Tlie Forum Transitorium : a Sketch by ISoscoio .... 309

119. Forum Traiani 311

120. Frieze from the Basilica ripia (Lateran iluseum) .... 314

121. Frieze from the Basilica Ulpia (Lateran Museum) . . . 315

xxu LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

122. Heads of Animals discovered in the Forum of Trajan . . . 319

123. Map of Regions I. (Porta Capena) and II. (Ctelimontium) . . 320

124. Sarcophagus of Scipio Barbatus in the Vatican .... 322

125. Plan of the Tomb of the Scipios, according to Piranesi . . 324

126. Tomb of tiie Scipios (Present State) 325

127. Portrait Bust of Scipio the Ekler (Capitoline Museum) . . 327

128. The Columbarium discovered in the Vigna Codini, May, 1852 . 332

129. One of the Courts of the Palace of the Laterans, discovered in

1877 341

130. Campus Lateranensis, about 1534 343

131. Plan of the House of SS. John and Paul, and of the Cliurcli built

above it 348

132. A View of the Church and Monaster^' of S. Circgorio in the First

Half of the Sixteenth Century . ' 3.50

133. The Substructures of the Claudlum, West Side .... 352

134. S. Stefano Rotondo, Inner View 354

135. Plan of S. Stefano Rotondo 356

136. Map of Region III. — Isis et Serapis 357

137. Nymphanim discovered near the Via della Polveriera . . . 360

138. Plan of the Golden House and of the Baths of Titus and Trajan . 3G0

139. A View of the South Wing of the Domus Aurea .... 361

140. Plan of Western Section of the Flavian Amphitheatre . . . 368

141. The Shell of the Coliseum after the Collapse of the Western

Arcades 374

142. The Insignia of the Compagnia del Salvatore on the Coliseum . 375

143. Stone Cippi surrounding the Coliseum 378

144. Step-seat of the Coliseum, Avith the Name of a Fabius Insteius . 381

145. Wooden Floor discovered in 1874 in the Substructures of the Ai-ena

of the Coliseum 382

146. I'alladio's Diagrams of the Anii>liitheatrum Castrense . . . 384

147. Plan of the Ludus ^Magnus 386

148. Remains of Public Baths near S. Pudenziana 390

149. Ruins discovered in 1684 on the Line of the Via Graziosa . . 392

150. Map of the Parks and Gardens of Ancient Rome .... 394

151. Ligorio's Perspective View of the Horti Variani .... 396

152. The Horti Variani, Vigna Conti, by S. Croce in Gerusalemme . 399

153. Statue of a Roman Magistrate of the Fourth Century giving the

Signal for a Chariot Race 402

154. Columbaria discovered in 1872 on the Site of the Horti Liciiiiani . 403

155. Statue of Shepherdess discovered in the Horti Vettiani . . 405

156. Bust of Commodus from the Horti Lamiani 408

157. Statuette of a Girl from the Horti Lamiani .... 409

158. The Conservatory of the Gardens of Ma?cenas .... 411

159. The Fountain Of Pontios the Athenian, discovered in the Gardens

of Mipcenas 412

160. Part of the Marble Throne of the Venus Sallustiana, now in the

Ludovisi Museum 414

161. A Group of Pines in the Villa Ludovisi, cut ddwn in 1887 . . 416

162. Cliffs on the South Side of the Vallis Sallustiana, l)efore the Con-

struction of the New Quarters 418

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxiu

163. The "Parnaso" or Xympli;rum of the Villa Aldobrandini at

Frascati 422

164. The Substructures of the Gardens of the Acilii Glabrioues on the

Pineian. A Sketch by Yaladier 42-3

165. Map of Region VI. — Alta Semita 428

166. The Ruins of the Temple of the Sun in the Sixteenth Century . 429

167. The Dioscuri of the (iuirinal, as they appeared in 1.546 . . 431

168. The Tepidarium of the Baths of Diocletian, before its Transfor-

mation into the Church of S. ^I. degli Angeli .... 434

169. Group of Cypresses in the Cloisters of La Certosa . . . 436

170. Remains of the Castra Pretoria : Northeast Corner of the (^lad-

rangle 438

171. The Walls of the Pra'torian Camp, with Aurelian's Superstructure 439

172. One of the Victories from the Arch of Gordianus III. . . . 440

173. Map of Region IX. — Can)i)us ^Martins and Circus I'laminius . . 440

174. Plan of the Ara Ditis et Proserpin* 447

175. Fragments of the Pnlvini of the Ara Ditis ..... 448

176. Architectural Details of the Circus Flaminius .... 453

177. The Inscription of Anicius Faustus from the ('ircus Flaminius (?) . 454

178. A Fragment of the Forma Urbis showing Round Temple of Her-

cules 45,5

179. The Finding of the Bronze Statue of tlie Hercules ]\[agnus Ciistos,

August 8, 1864 . .4.56

180. The Shrine of the Hercules Invictus, discovered in 1889, on the Via

Portuensis 457

181. The so-called Pompey the Great of tlie Palazzo Spada . . . 4(!0

182. The Mausoleum of Augustus, turned into a Garden by the Soderiui

about 1.550 "... 463

183. The Ara Pacis August:\i — details 467

184. The Ara Pacis Augusta;— details 468

185. Plan of the first (red) and of the third (black) Pantlicm . . .474

186. The I'antheon flooded by the Tiber 477

187. T!ie Pantheon at the Time of Urban VIII. (1625) . . . .482

188. The Bronze Trusses of the Pronaos of the Pantheon, from a Sketch

by Dosio 483

189. The Remains of Raphael, discovered September 14, 1833 ., . 485

190. The Temple of Neptune : an unfinished Study by Vespignani . 489

191. Remains of the Hall of the Theatre' of Marcellus, from a Sketch

by Du Perac (1575) 492

192. Arcades of the Theatre of Balbus, from a Sketch by .Sangallo the

Elder . . . ' . ' . . 493

193. Forma Urbis, fragment 115 494

194. Remains of the Crypta Balbi, designed by Sangallo the Elder . 495

195. Remains of the Stadium discovered in 1869 at tlie South End of the

Piazza Xavona 497

196. The Nile of the Braccio Xuovo — A Fragment .... .501

197. A Round Temple or Hall sketched by Giovannoli in 1619, near the

Palazzo Capranica 503

198. The so-called Arch of M. Aurelius on the Corso, sketched by Li-

gorio 505

xxiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

199. Map of the Harbor of Rome 509

200. Temple of Fortuna ; Detail of the Order 515

201. The Excavations of 1827 in the Temple of Mater Matuta, from a

Sketch by Valadier 517

202. The Janus of the Forum Boarium, the Arch of Severus, and the

Church of S. Giorgio, from a Sketch by M. Heemskerk . . 519

203. Plan of S. Maria in Cosmedin 520

204. S. Maria in Cosmedin in the Sixteenth Century .... 521

205. The Wliarf for Landing Marbles on the Banks of the Campus

Martins . . . " 52G

206. Map of the Therma- Antoniniana> 533

207. Part of the Building discovered by Guidi under the Baths of Cara-

calla 533

208. A Leaf from Palladio's Sketch-book (Baths of Caracalla) . . 535

209. Capital of the Composite Order from the Tepidarium of Caracalla's

Baths 537

210. Palladio's Plan of the Thermse Decianw 543

211. Capital from the Basement of Hadrian's Tomb .... 552

212. Diagram showing the Order in which the Imperial Tiim1)stones

were placed in the ^lausoleum 554

213. The Girandola at the Castle of S. Angelo, from an Engraving by

Lauro (1624) 556

214. The Mausoleum of Hadrian and the Meta m Raphael's "Vision of

Constantine " 557

215. The Prati di Castello in 1870 558

210. The Prati di Castello in 1890 559

THE RUINS OF ANCIENT ROME

BOOK I

GENERAL IXKOUMATIOX

I. Site — Geology — CoxFiGt'RATiox of Soil. — During the
sub-Apennine or quaternary period a powerful stream came down
from the mountains, on the line of a rent or fissure which
separated the Ciminian from the Alban volcanoes. The stream,
from 1000 to 2000 metres wide and 30 deep, emptied itself
into the sea between Ponte Galera and Dragoncello. By the
combined action of the main flood and of its tributaries, portions
of the tableland on the east or left bank became detached and
formed small islands, while the edge of the bank itself was fur-
rowed and serrated into promontories and iidets. Such is the ori-
gin of the isolated hills, since called Capitoline. Palatine, Aven-
tine, and Ca?lian ; and of the promontories projecting from the
tableland, called Pincian, Quirinal, Viminal, Cespian. and Oppian.
The Vatican and the Janicnlum on the west or right bai^k are less
irregular, because they had to withstand the action of the main
stream alone, and not of side tributaries.

When men first appeared in these lands the quaternary river
had diminished almost to the size and volume of the historical
Tiber, and the hills had been reduced to a definite shape ; but the
bottom of the valleys remained swampy, so as to be easily flooded
by freshets. The marshes of the Yelabra, the Capra? palus, the
Decennije, and other ponds are evidence of this state of things.
The mouth of the river was still near Ponte Galera, 12 kilometres
farther inland than the present one. The first human settlement,
"dove I'acqua di Tevere s'insala," called i^/ca/m, stood on the hill
of Dragoncello, opposite Ponte Galera. The dim remoteness of
these events is shown by the fact that when Ancus Marcius, the

2 GENERAL INFORMATION

fourth king, founded Ostia, as a substitute for Ficana, the mouth
of the river had ah'eady advanced seawards 5810 metres.

Fig. 2. — The Cliifs of the CapitoUne Hill above " La Consolazione."

It is difficult to reconstruct in one's mind tlie former aspect of
the site of Rome, as hills have been lowered, valleys filled u]i, and
cliffs turned into gentle slopes. By means of borings made in

SITE o

1872,1 and of my own investigations into the depths of the founda-
tions of modern buildings, I have ascertained that the promon-
tories and the isolated hills were faced — at least on the river side
— by sheer walls of rock, of which there are a few specimens left
at the southwest front of the Capitoline, and on the west sides of
the Palatine and Aveutine. In other words, the site of Home was
like that of Veil and Faleria, with narrow dales inclosed by craggy
clift's, shadowed by evergreens, and made damp and unhealthy
by swamps and unruly rivers (Fig. 2).

The otlier hills, the Quirinal, Viminal, Pincian, etc., were not
different in shape, as shown by the following section taken across
the Quirinal, from the Piazza Barberini to the corner of the Via
Nazionale : —

5^'^SSS^^Ss^. I

-(44.32)

l;3000 AliituJ'

000 Distances,

Kg. 3. — Section of the Quirinal Hill.

Within the limits of the old ci
those isolated were called inonta
and Ca'lian), those connected
roHes ((Quirinal and Viminal).
the rule, being counted among
with the tableland. In regard
stand in the following order : —

Quirinal, T'orta Pia .
Viminal, railway fetation
[Oppiari, the Sette Sale .
Esr|uiline, S. ]Maria ^lagj^iore
[Cespiaii, Via Qiiattro Cantoiii
Palatine, S. Bi)naventnra
Civlian, Villa Mattei .
Capitoline, the Araewli
Aveutine, S. Alessio .

ty there were seven hills, of which
s (Palatine, Capitoline, Aveutine,
with the tableland were called
The Es(piiline is an exception to
the montes, although connected
to altitude above sea-level they

1 Raffaele Canevari, Atti Accademia Lincet, serie ii. vol. ii. p. 429.

Metres.
6.3.05
57.48
55.02]
54.43
50.86]
50.00
47.85
46.00
45.92

4 GENERAL INFORMATION

Other summits on the left bank : —

Metres.

Piiician Hill at the Villa Medici 56.33

Piucian Hill at the Porta Pinciaiia 63.05

The so-called pseudo-Aventine by S. Saba . . . 43.00
Moute d' Oro, above the Porta Metroni . . . . 46.00
Monte Citorio 24.34

Before the construction of the central railway station, the highest
point on the left bank was an artificial hill called the Monte della
Giustizia, the work of Diocletian and of Sixtus Y. It rose to the
height of 73 metres, and bears the name of " altissimus Roniaj
locus" in Bufalini's map (1551). On the other side of the river,
the ridge called the monn Vaticanus rises to the height of liO
metres at the fort of Monte Mario, of 75 metres at the top of the
pope's gardens. The Janiculum measures 89 metres at the Villa
Savorelli-Heyland, 81.73 at the Porta di S. Pancrazio.

Rome stands at an equal distance from the sea and the moun-
tains, in the middle of an undulating plain deeply furrowed by
ravines. This plain, 47 kilometres wide and 60 long, is bordered on
the north side by the Sabatine volcanic range (Rocca romana, 601
metres; Monte Calvi, 5.90; Monte Virginio, 540) ; on the east side
by the limestone pre- Apennines (Monte Gennaro, 1269 ; Monte
Affliano, 598; Monte Guadagnolo, 1218; the citadel of Prseneste
at Castel S. Pietro, 760) ; on the southeast side by the Alban hills,
the highest summit of which is not Monte Cavo (940), as generally
supposed, but the Punta delle Faette, 950 metres.

Students who visit Rome for the first time would do well to take at
once a general survey of the seven hills, of the plain, of its border of
mountains and sea, from the dome of S. Peter's, from the campanile
of S. Maria Maggiore, or from the tower of the Capitol, which is
easier of access and has a more interesting foreground (open
every day from ten to three). The landmarks of the panorama
can be singled out by referring to —

Henry Kiepert's Carta corogr. ed archiol. dtlV Italia centrale, 1 : 250,000.
Berlin, Reimer, 1881. — Enrico Abate's Guida della provincia di Roma. Rome,
Salviucci, 1890. Map in two sheets. Second ed. 1893. Maps of the Istituto
geogralico niilitare, 1 : 100,000 and 1 : 50,000. (The map 1 : 10,000 is not
in the market.) The best for use is the Carta topografica dti dintorni di
Roma, in 9 sheets, 1 : 25,000.

The highest peaks visible from Rome are the Monte Terminillo,
above Rieti, 2213 metres high, and the Monte Velino, above Avez-
zano, 2487 metres. They usually keep their shining coat of snow
till the middle of May.

GEOLOGY 5

Literature. — Giovanni Brocchi, Dello statofisico del suolo di Roma. Rome,
1820. — Raffaele C'anevari, Cenni suUe condizioni altimetriche ed idrauliche dell'
agro romano. Rome, 1874. (Auuali Ministero agricoltura.) — Felice Gior-
dano, Condizioni topogrqtiche ejisiche di Roma e Campagna. (Monogratia della
citta di Roma, 1881, pp. i.-lxxxvi.) — Paolo Mantovaui, Descrizione yeologica
della Campagna romana, Rome, Loescher, 1874 ; and Costituzione geologica
del suolo romano, 1878. — Murray's Handbook of Rome, ed. 1875, p. 349. —
Antonio Nibby, Roma anlica, vol. i. pp. 1-65, 2()7-.300. Rome, 1838. — Adolf
Becker, Topogrrqjhie der Stadt Rome, p. 81. (Lage, Weichbild, Klima.)
Heinrich Jordan, Tojiograjjliie d. S. R., vol. i. pp. 117-152. (Lage, Bodeu,
Klima.) — Otto Richter, Topographie d. S. R., p. 18. (Lage und Formation.)

There are two museums of geology and mineralogy — one in the L'niversity
(della Sapienza), consisting of the collections of Belli, Brocchi, and Spada, and
of a bequest of Leo XIL ; the other in the former convent della Yittoria, Via
S. Susanna, second floor : open Tuesdays, Thursda3-s, and Sundays.

II. Geology. — There are four geological formations in the
district of Rome, with which the student must become familiar
if he wishes to understand at once some imjjortant peculiarities
of Roman masonry and architecture. They are the secondary or
limestone, the tertiary or argillaceous, the volcanic, and the
quaternary or diluvial formations.

The limestone is best examined at INIonticelli, the ancient Cor-
niculum, the fourth station on the Sulmona line. The rock,
slightly dolomitised, is white at the base of the hill, with terebra-
tuloe in great numbers ; reddish in the middle, with a dozen va-
rieties of ammonites ; and white again at the summit, with tere-
hratidce and traces of the anomalous fossil uptychus. The lime of
^lonticelli, from the Caprine kilns, mixed with pozzolana, makes
Roman masonry " fere perennius." The argillaceous formation is
conspicuous in the Vatican and Janiculum ridges, the monti della
creta (clay hills) of the present day. A waUc through the exten-
sive quarries of the Valle dell' Inferno and the Yalle del Gelsomino
will show the student the details of the formation, rich in ptero-
podous molluscs, and will make him appreciate the vastness of
the work of man, since bricks were first accepted as an essential
element of Roman masonry. As the A'alle di Pozzo Pantaleo has
been bodily excavated through the hills of Monteverde by the
quarrj'men supplying tufa for the " opus quadratum " and the
"opus reticulatum," so the valleys of the Gelsomino, delle For-
naci, delle Cave, della Balduina, and dell' Inferno have been
hollowed out of the clay hills by the ancient, Renaissance, and
modern bricklayers. (See Bull, com., 1892, p. 288, and § xi. on
Building Materials.) The pliocene marls of the Vatican ridge
abound in fossils ; they can easily be gathered along the Via

6 GENERAL INFORMATION

Trionfale opposite the Croce di Monte Mario, or in the cuttings
of the Vitei'bo railway, at the top of the Valle dell' Inferno.

The volcanic formation is represented in or near Rome by
three kinds of tufa — the red or lithoid, the yellowish or granular,
the grayish or lamellar ; and by two kinds of pozzolana — the red
and the black. The surface of tufa beds, soft and unfit for build-
ing purposes, is called " cax^pellaccio." The tufa quarries of S.
Saba, the largest within the walls, were abandoned in 1889 ; the
largest still in use are those of Monteverde, outside the Porta Por-
tese, and of S. Agnese, outside the Porta Pia. The best kind of
pozzolana is quarried near the Tre Fontane. Diluvial or qua-
ternary deposits abound on each side of the Tiber. The cliffs of
the Monti Parioli, between the Villa di Papa Giulio and the Acqua
Acetosa, as well as the gravel pits of Ponte Molle and Ponte No-
mentano, are best adapted for the study of this late formation, so
rich in fossil mammalia, like the Eleplias, the Rhinoceros tichorinus,
the Bos p)-imigenius, the hippopotamus, the lynx, etc. It is well to
remember that the flint arrowheads found in the gravel at Ponte
Molle do not belong to a local race, but were washed down from
pre-Apennine stations by the flood.

Travertine, the king of Roman building materials, is best
studied at the Cava del Barco, near the stazione del bagni of both
Tivoli railways.

Pietro Zezi, Imlice blhliograjico delle puhllcazioniriyuaydanti la mineralogia,
la geologia e la paleontologia. delta pruvincia di Roma. (Moiiografia di Konia,
vol. i. p. clxiii.)

III. Malaria. — The Romans did not deny the unhealthiness
of the district in the midst of which their city was built. Cicero
calls it " a pestilential region," and Pliny likewise calls the Ma-
remma " heavy and pestilential." The hills were comparatively
healthy (" colles in regione pestilent! salubres, colles saluberrimi,"
Livy, V. 54) ; still, the effects of malaria, increased by ignorance or
contempt of sanitary rules, must have been felt also by the
settlers on the Palatine, Esquiline, and Quirinal. Under Tiberius
there were three temples of Fever left standing — one on the
Palatine, one near the church of S. Eusebio, the third near the
church of S. Bernardo; but they represented the memory of
past miseries rather than actual need of help from the gods,
because, long before the time of Tiberius, Rome and the Campagna
had been made healthy in a large measure ; and when Horace
(Epist., i. 7, 7) describes Rome as half deserted in the summer
months, he refers to the habit of the citizens of migrating to

MALARIA i

their hill farms or seacoast villas, to escape depressing heat rather
than malaria. This sunimer emigration en masse is still charac-
teristic of Rome. Sixty thousand citizens left in 189o for an
average period of forty days : one seventh of the whole population.

Sanitary reform was accomplished, firstly, by the draining of
marshes and ponds ; secondly, by an elaborate system of sewers ;
thirdly, by the substitution of spring water for that of polluted
wells ; fourthly, by the paving and multiplication of roads ; fifthly,
by the cultivation of land; sixthly, by sanitary engineering, ai>
plied to human dwellings ; seventhly, by substituting cremation
for burial; eighthly, by the drainage of the Canipagna; and
lastly, by the organization of medical help. The results were
truly wonderful. Pliny says that his villeggiatura at Laurentum
was equally delightful in winter and summer, while the place is
now a hotbed of malaria. Antoninus Pius and M. Aurelius pre-
ferred their villa at Lorium (Castel di Guido) to all other imperial
residences, and the correspondence of Fronto proves their presence
tliere in midsummer. Xo one would try the experiment now.
The same can be said of Hadrian's villa below Tivoli, of the villa
Quinctiliorum on the Appian Way, of that of Lucius Verus at
Acqua Traversa, etc. The Campagna must have looked in those
happy days like a great park, studded with villages, farms, lordly
residences, temples, fountains, and tombs (see " Ancient Rome,"
chs. iii. and x.).

The cutting of the aqueducts by the barbarians, the consequent
abandonment of suburban villas, the permanent insecurity, the
migration of the few survivors under cover of the city walls, and
the clioking up of drains, caused a revival of malaria. ]\Iedi»val
Romans found themselves in a condition worse than that of the
first l)uilders of the city ; and being neither able nor willing to
devise a remedy, as their ancestors had done, they raised their
helpless hands towards heaven, and built a chapel in honor of Our
Lady of the Fever (see '' Ancient Rome," p. .53).

The present generation has once more conquered the evil, and
has made Rome the best drained, the best watered, the healthiest
capital of Europe, except London. This statement may not be
agreeable to those who systematically and deliberately condemn
whatever has been done by us since 1870; but they would do
well to accept facts as they are. Comm. Luigi Bodio, Director
of the State Department of Statistics, has favored me with the
followino- official declaration : —

8 GENERAL INFORMATION

" Rome, 10 Nov. 1894.

" From 1st January, 1860, to 31st December, 1869, in an aver-
age population of 205,229, thei-e were 5477 average annual bii-ths,
5946 deaths. Rate of births, 26.70 per thousand; of deaths, 29
per thousand.

"Between 1890 and 1893, in an average population of 437,355
souls, there were 11,678 births, 9791 deaths per annum. Rate of
births, 26.70 per tliousand ; of deaths, 22.38. This last figure
includes the floating population, and, above all, the peasants who
come down from their moiintains to cultivate the Maremma, and
furnish the heaviest percentage to the hospital lists. The rate of
deaths among the resident population is only 1QA5 per thousand, 'while
in London it rose to 20.37, in Vienna to 21.53, in Berlin to 23.09,
in Paris to 23.80." i

LiTEKATURE. — Pictro Balestra, L' iffiene nelln citta e camjjogna di Rmnn.
1875. — Guido Baccelli, La malaria di Roma. (Monografia di Roma, 1881, vol.
i.p. 149.) — Giovanni Brocclii, Discorso sulla condizione dell' aria di Roma nei
tempi anticki. 1820. — Stefano Ferrari, Condizioni igieniche del climn di Roma.
(Monografia di Roma, 1881, vol. i. p. 316.) — Rodolfo Lanciani, DI alcune
opere di risnnamenio delV af/ro romano. Atti Lincei, 1879. " Tlie Sanitary
Condition of Rome: " Ancient Rome, p. 49. — Lanzi-Terrigi, La malaria e il
clima di Roma. Rome, 1877. — Francesco Scalzi, Malattie predominanti in
Roma. Rome, 1878. — Angelo Secchi, Intorno ad alcune opere idrnuliche
antiche rinrenute nella campagna di Roma. — ('orrado, Tommasi Crudeli, The
Climate of Rome and the Roman Malaria. (Translated by Charles Cramond
Dick. London, Churchill, 1892.) L' antica fognatura delle colline romane.
Atti Lincei, vol. x., 1881. Alcune riflesdoni sul clima dell' antica Roma.
Mittheil., 1877, p. 77. L'ancien drainage des collines romaines. Melanges de
I'Ecole fran9aise, 1882. — Charles Edmund Wendt, The New Rome and the
Question of Roman Fever. New York, 1892. — Philijipe Tournon, Etudes
statistiques sur Rome. Paris, 1855, vol. i. pp. 223, 230.

rV. Climate. — The climate seems to have been more severe
in ancient times than now. Dionysius (Fragm., 1., xii. 8) describes
a blizzard which covered the ground with seven feet of snow.
Men died of cold, sheep and cattle were frozen, and many houses
fell under the weight of their snowy pall. He speaks probably of
the year 401 b. c, which Livy (v. 13) calls " insignis hieme gelida
ac nivosa," when even the Tiber became a mass of ice. In 271
snow lay on the Forum for forty days.'^ On 12th .January 67 n. c.
the meeting of the Senate was adjourned on account of the cold

1 Death-rate in 1886 — London, 19.8; Rome, 20.0; Paris, 24.6; Berlin, 25.8;
Vienna, 26.2; Petersburg, 30.6; Buda-Pest, 39.4.
' See Augustine, De civitate Dei, iii. 17.

CLIMATE 9

which prevailed in the CuriaJ The severity of another winter, per-
haps that of 1!J B. c, is described by Horace (Od., i. 9). Martial's
epigram, iv. 18, commemorates the fate of a youth transfixed l)y
an icicle. Such excesses of temperature are not recorded in mod-
ern days. Between 1828 and 1877 the lowest registered was 8.25°
Centigrade (February, 18-1.5), the highest 42°, a most extraordi-
nary case, which happened on July 17, 1841. The mean annual
temjierature is 16.40°. In the course of the day the mercury rises
(piickly in the morning and falls slowly after noon. In summer
there are two maximums — one from twelve to one o'clock, the
other towards nine p. m. The temperature is always lowest at
sum-ise.

Rain is most frequent in Xovember, heaviest in October.
There are 155 cloudless days in the year, 122 misty, 83 cloudy.
Maximum rainfall (1872), 10.'iO.:30 millimetres; minimum (1834),
319.45. In summer time the land breeze blows from early morn-
ing to nine a. m., the sea breeze from eleven to six. These refresh-
ing winds make Kome more comfortable in summer than other
cities of much higher latitudes.

V. Hydrography — Rivers, Springs, Ponds, Marshes. —
The Tiber rises from the Monte Coronaro, at the height of 1167
metres above the sea, and reaches Rome after a winding course of
373 kilometres, through Etruria, Umbria, and Sabina. The niean
breadth of the river in the city district was 80 metres (now 100
metres between the embankments), its average depth 3 metres,
total length from springs to sea 393 kilometres. Below Rome it
expands into a channel 120 metres wide, navigated by steamers
and coasting-vessels of 100 tons burden. Ceselli's observations,
from ]\Iarch, 1871, to Feltruary, 1872, state the daily average out-
flow of the river at 1.296,000 cubic metres. During the same year
8,582,333 tons of sand and mud were washed down to the sea, a
volume of over 4,000,000 cubic metises. This state of things and
the prevalence of southwesterly winds makes the coast advance
westwards at a consideralile rate. We have just seen that Ficaua,
the oldest human station near the bar of the river, is now 12,000
metres inland, and kingly Ostia 6600 metres. The Torre di S.
Michele, built in 1567 by Michelangelo on the edge of the sands,
stands 2000 metres away from the present shore ; the Torre
Clementina at Fiumicino, built in 1773, " in ipso maris supercilio,"

1 Cicero, Ad Quint, fratr., ii. 12.

10 GENERAL INFORMATION

Htands 690 metres inland.^ The average yearly increase of the
coast at the Ostia mouth is 9.02 metres, at the Fiumicino mouth
3.10 metres.

Literature. — Giuseppe Ponzi, Storia geologica del Tevere. (Giornale
arcadico, vol. xviii. p. 1'29.) DtW Aniene e de suol rditti. (Ibid.) — Aubert,
Roma e V inondazione del Tevere. (Giornale arcad., vol. Ixvi. p. 142.) — Alessan-
dro Betocchi, Delfiume Tevere. (Moiiogratia di Koiua, vol. i. p. l'J7.) Effeme-
ridi del Tevere, published yearh' by the Accademia dei Liiicei. — Marco Ceselli,
Bulletiino nautico e geograjico di Roma, vol. vi. n. 3. — Carlo Fea, Storia delle
acque. Rome, 1817. — Rodolfo Lanciani, / comentarii di Frontino intorno le
acque e gli acquedofti. Rome, Salviucti, 1880, pp. 3-28. — Alessandro Nar-
ducci published, in 1876, an essay on the bibliography of the Tiber (Saggio di
hibUografia del Tevere, Rome, Civelli), in which over 400 works are registered.
Their number may be stated now at 700. The best library for consultation
on the subject is the Biblioteca del Miriistero dei Lavori publici. Piazza di S.
Silvestro. There is a special department in Rome for the works and embank-
ment of the Tibei", with a good collection of maps and diagrams (Ufficio tec-
nico speciale per la sisteniazione del Tevere. Via di Ripetta, n. 222 c).

The inundations are the great historical feature of the Tiber.

From the traditional flood, in the course of which Romulus
and his twin-brother were exposed to the waters under the rocks
of the Palatine, to the beginning of the Christian era, twenty-six
inundations are recorded ; thirty from 1 to 500 a. d. ; twenty-one
from 500 to 1000; twenty-three from 1000 to 1500; thirty-two
from 1500 to the present day ; a total of one hundred and thirty-
two. The worst of which we liave the measurement reached the
following altitudes at the hydrometer of Ripetta (ordinary level
of water, 0.70 metres) : —

Metres.

December, 1280 10.02

November, 1.376 17.02

December, 1495 16.88

October, 1530 18.95

September, 1557 18.90

DECEMBER, 1598 19.56

January, 1606 18.26

February, 1637 17.55

November, 1660 17.11

November, 1668 16.00

December, 1702 15.41

February, 1805 16.42

December, 1846 16.25

December, 1870 17.22

1 The coast has increased about 390 metres since 1st April, 1857, when au
official survey was taken by the local collector of customs.

THE TIBER 11

The flood of 1598, the highest recorded in history, began on
Christmas eve ; at noon the next day there were 6.50 metres of
flood in the Via di Ripetta, 6.58 metres at the Pantheon, 5.28
metres at the Piazza Xavona, 4.56 metres on the Corso by S.
Lorenzo in Lncina. A boat went ashore in the Piazza di Spagna,
where tiie Fontaua della Barcaccia was erected by Bernini to
commemorate the event; two arches of the Pons ^Emilias were
overthrown at three P. M. on the 21th, a few seconds after Cardinal
Pietro Aldobrandiuo had crossed it to rescue some families sur-
rounded by the foaming waters. Houses were washed away l)y
hundreds; TOO persons were drowned in the city, and 800 in the
suburbs, besides thousands of cattle. As usual, famine and pesti-
lence followed the flood.

In the flood of 1702, which rose to only 15.11 metres, fifty-two
streets and squares were submerged on the left bank, north of the
Capitol, eighty-five south of that hill, and sLsty-two on the other
side of the river.

The last flood, on December 28 and 29, 1870, which gave rise to
King Victor Emmanuel's first visit to his new capital on a merci-
ful errand, marks another important date in the history of the
city, because to it we owe the construction of the new embank-
ments, which, when finished, will have cost the state, the county,
and the city over 20(),0()().()00 lire. The curve of the flood of 1870
is represented in this diagram : —

■

2 ; ? 2 ? :

I ; £ IS ti:: s

T " " T :

-?;:::

? ? 7 f i i i

Hours a>

.20..;

. i . 2 00c. |S

2 - 2 -

.. 2 . ;

. 2.

2 . .2

Days S

s s

Months

December

IP.IO

January 1871

Fig. 4. — Curve of the Flood of December, 1870.

The event is too recent to require a description. It brought to
our minds the floods so often mentioned by the " Liber Pontifi-
calis," when the waters, breaking through the walls at the Poste-
rula sancti Martini (Ripetta), would dash against the clifl^s of the
Capitol, ltd ut in via lata (Corso) amplius ijuam duas statural (3.80
metres) Jiuminis aqua excrevisset (a. d. 772).

12 GENERAL INFORMATION

Literature. — Leone Pascoli, II Tevere navigato. Rome, 1740. — Gaspare
Alveri, Delle inondazloni del Tevere. (Roma in ogni state, voL i. p. 571.) —
Antonio Grifl, 11 fiume Tevere nelle sue piit inemorabili inondazioni. Album,
voL iv. pp. 29, 390. — Philippe Tounion, Etudes statistiques sur Rome, vol. ii.
p. 207. — Gaetauo Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione ecclesiastica, vol. Ixxv.
p. 125. — Filippo Cerroti, Le inondazioni di Roma. Florence, 1871. — Ralfaele
Canevari, Tavola delle principali inondazioni del Tevere. Rome, 1875. —
Michele Carcani, II Tevere e le sue inondazioni dalle origini di Roma sine ai
giornl nostri. Rome, 1875. — Alessandro Bettocclii, Monografia della citta di
Roma, 1881, vol. i. p. 24-'i. — Liidovico Gomez, De prodigiosis Tiheris iminda-
tionihus. Rome, 1531.

Tlie earliest project for restraining the Tiber from overflowing-
its banks dates, as far as we know, from the time of Julius Caesar,
who moved in the House a bill for the cutting of a new bed from
the Pons Molvius to the Trastevere, along the base of the Vatican
hills.^ The merit of having placed the unruly river under the
management of a body of conservators, selected from the highest
consular ranks, belongs to Augustus according to Suetonius (37),
to Tiberius according to Tacitus (Ann., i. 70) and Dion Cassius
(Ivii. 14, 8).

Augustus gave the posts of chief conservators to C. Asinius
Gallus and C. Marcius Ceusorinus in the year 7 b. c, when the bed
of the river was cleared " ruderibus et eedificiorum prolapsionibus,"
deepened and widened, and its banks were lined with terminal
stones, marking the extent of public property which the conserva-
tors had rescued from private encroachment. Scores of these
stones are still in existence. After the inundation of A. D. 15,
which had caused what Tacitus describes as " aedificiorum et homi-
num stragem," Tiberius referred the subject to Ateius Cajjito and
L. Arruntius, the first of whom was a great authority on such mat-
ters. They suggested, and the Emperor sanctioned, the institution
of a permanent committee of five senators, to be called curatores
riparum. This institution lasted until the reign of Vespasian or
Domitian, when we hear for the first time of one conservator only,
a patrician, assisted by two adiutores of equestrian rank. In or
about A. D. 101 the care of the sewers was added to that of the
Tiber, and this important branch of the city administration
received the title of .'itatio alvei Tiheris et cloacarum. About 330
the chief conservator exchanged his classic title for that of consu-
laris, and about 400 for that of comes. Archaeologists have been

1 Cicero, Ad Attic, xxxiii. 3. Caesar's project was brought forward again
in 1879. See Zucchelli, Di una nuova inalveazione del Tevere. Rome, For-
zaui, 1879.

THE TIBER

able to draw an almost complete chronology of these officers from
the terminal stones on which their names are engraved.

Literature. — Corpus Inscr., vol. i. p. 180; vol. vi. p. 266. — Theodor
Mominsen, Staatsrecht, ii^, p. 1047. — Giuseppe Gatti, Bull. comm. arch., vol.
XV., 1887, p. 306. — Thedenat, Dictiunn. antiq. grecques et ram. de Saglio,
vol. i. p. 162-3. — Luigi C'aiitarelli, Bull. comm. arch., vol. xvii., 1889, p. 185;
vol. xxii., 1894, pp. 89 and 354. — Dante Vaglieri, Bull. comm. arch., vol.
xxii., 1894, p. -254.

Two means were adopted in im[)erial times to protect the city
[rom floods — an embankment on either side, and the shortening
of the bed between the city and the sea.

First, as to the embankment. We have seen how the Tiber is
siibjeot to differences of level, which reached to 12.86 metres in
tlie flood of Clement VIII., increasing foui'teen times the volume
of its waters. To give such a capricious river a regular outlet,
modern engineers have built a uniform bed 1(10 metres in width,
which has to serve both for droughts and for floods. Their pre-

Modern embankment

Fig. 5.

decessors, on the other hand, had adopted a triple section, the
narrowest to serve in time of drought, the second in moderate,
tlie third in extraordinary floods, as shown in the following
diagram : —

Ancient embankment

imm//"'"

Fig. 6.

The advantages of the old over the modern system are obvious.
With the old the river was obliged to run in every season of the
year within limits well defined, and proportioned to its volume,

GENERAL INFORMATION

"without raising sandbanks and depositing silt and mud. The
moderate heiglit of each of the three receding steps allowed the
river to preserve its pleasing aspect, as is the case in many of the
modern capitals of Europe ; while the huge walls between which
we have imprisoned the stream have transformed it into a deep
and unsightly channel, with nothing to relieve the monotony of
its banks.

Side outlets to relieve the flood and shorten its course towards
the sea were first cut open by Claudius. An inscrii^tion discovered
at Porto in 1836 contains the expression : fossis dvctis vrbem
iNA^NDATioxis PEKicvLO LiBERAviT (see Corpus Inscr., vol. xiv.
n. 85). Trajan changed the course of the channels. Another
fragmentary inscription, now in the cloisters of S. Paul outside
the Walls, says of him : fossam fecit q\A iNVNdationes Tiberis
GDSIDVE \rhem vexardes . . . arcerentur. This subject has been
exhaustively treated by —

Pietro Ercole Visconti, Dissertazioni Accad. archeol., vol. viii. (1838), p.
213. — Luigi Caniiia, Ibid., p. 259. — Antonio Nibby, Dintorni di Roma, vol.
ii. p. 612. — Reifferscheid, Bull, hist., 186-3, p. 8. — Charles Texier, Revue
gen. d' Architecture, vol. xv. p. 306, pis. 31, 32. — Rodolfo Lanciani, Ricerche
mlla citta di Porto (in Ann. Inst., vol. xl., 1868, p. 144.) Corpus Inscr. Lat.,
vol. xiv. p. 22, n. 88.

The following cut represents the mouth of the navigable arm
of the river at Fiumicino, which is the modern representative of
the fossa Traiana : —

Fig. 7. — The Mouth of the Tiber at Fiumicino.

The characteristics of the Tiber are, first, the supposed whole-
some qualities of its water, the favorite beverage of Clement VII.,

THE TIBER 15

Paul III., and Gi^egory XIII. This simply proves that the three
pontiffs were proof against tji^hoid, for the river was then, as it
continued up to 1890, the true Cloaca Maxima of the city. The
second is the abundance and regularity of its feeding springs, in
consetjuence of which the river has never changed in volume and
level within historical times. There is a tendency to believe that
the Tiber was much lower in old times, because Pliny (xxxvi. 24, 2)
speaks of Agripi)a being rowed into the Cloaca .Maxima, the
moutli of which it is now impossible to enter. Observations made
in 1S(J!( by Padre Secchi at the marble wharf (Marmorata), and
by the engineers of the embankment, prove that since the fall of
the Empire the bed of the river has hardly risen three feet.
AVhile this fact is absolutely certain, it gives rise to problems
which are difficult to solve.

In the si)ring of 1879 a Roman house was discovered on the
right l)ank, in the gardens of la Farnesina, the paintings and
stuccoed panels of which have become famous in the artistic world,
and form the best ornament of the ^luseo delle Terme.

The pavements of this noble mansion were only 8 metres
and 20 centimetres above the level of the sea, and about 3
metres above that of the river. During the four months employed
by us in removing the frescoes and the stucco panels, the Tiber
entered the house five times. Taking ten times as a yearly
average, the paintings and the stuccoes must have been washed
by ordinary floods four thousand times, from the age of Augustus,
to which the house belongs, to the fall of the Empire ; and yet
frescoes and stuccoes were in perfect condition, and showed no
sign of having been spoilt by water. I have not yet found a
satisfactory solution of the problem ; because, even admitting the
existence of an embankment between the house and the river,
drains would always have provided a way for the flood.

Literature. — Xotizie (lefjll Scari, 1880, p. 127, pis. 4, 5. — Monumenti
inediti dell' Instiittto, Supplenu-nto ISltl. — ^Yolfgang Helbig, Collections of
Antiquities in Rome, vol. ii. p. 2-20. — Kodolfo Lanciani, Far/an and Christian
Borne, p. 2*)3.

The Tiber was celebrated for its fish. There is a work on this
subject by Paolo Giovio, translated from Latin into Italian by
Carlo Zangarolo. ^lacrobius, Pliny, and Juvenal praise above
all the hipus, when caught " inter duos pontes " (in the waters of
S. Bartolomeo's island), where he fed on the refuse of the Cloaca
^laxima. The lupus has been identified by some "v\ith the
" spigola " or Pcrca lehrax, by others with the " laccia " or Clupea

16 GENERAL INFORMATION

alosa, better known by the name of shad, the best Tiberine fish
of the present day. There is a bas-relief in the Capitol, represent-
ing a sturgeon 16 inches long, with the text of an edict of 1581
providing that any sturgeon caught in Roman waters exceeding
the statute size would be considered the property of the city
magistrates.

VI. Bridges.

Literature. — Gio. Battista Piranesi, Opere, vol. iv., Ponti antichi, etc. —
Stefano Piale, Degli antichi ponti di Roma. Rome, 183-2. — Adolf Becker,
De muris, p. 78; aud Tojwgraphie, p, 093. — Tlieodor Moniiusen, Berichte der
scichs. Gesellschajl dtr Wiss., 1850, p. 320. — Heinrich Jordan, Die Briickeii.
(Topographic, vol. i. p. 393.) — Mayerlioefer, Die Briicken in alien Rom, 1883.—
Zippel, Die Briicken in alien Rom. (Jahrbucli fiir klass. Phil., 1880, p. 81.) —
Otto Richter, Die Befestigung des Janiculum. Berlin, 1882.

Pons sublicius, the oldest of Roman bridges. — Its antiquity
is proved not so much by the tradition which attributes it to
Ancus Marcius, as by the fact that no iron was used in its original
construction, or in subsequent repairs. Pliny (H. N., xxxvi. 15,
23), ignorant as he was of " Pre-history," gives a wrong explana-
tion of the fact when he introduces the story of Horatius Codes,
whose followers experienced so much difficulty in cutting it down
in the face of the enemy. Such was not the case. Iron was pro-
scribed irom the structure for the same reason which prevented
masons or stonecutters from using tools of that metal in repairing
some of the oldest temples ; for instance, that of the Dea Dia
(see " Ancient Rome," p. 41). At that time the Romans lived still
" morally " in the age of bronze, and felt a religious repulsion
for the new metal.

The bridge was carried away by a flood in 2-3 b. c, perhaps the
same mentioned by Horace (Od., i. 2) ; and again in the time of
Antoninus Pius. On either occasion it was restored according to
the old rite.i It seems almost certain that, if the frame and
the roadway were of timber and planks {mhlicia),i\\& foundations
in mid-stream must have been of solid masonry.^ The piers were
prominent enough above the water-mark to make the memory of
the bridge last through the Middle Ages, when we hear very often

1 See Dionysius, iii. 45 ; Pliny, xxxvi. 5, 23 ; Macrobius, i. 11; and Vita
Antonin., viii.

2 Servius, u^n. viii. 046, says of Porsenna: cnm jper sublicium pontem, hoc est
ligneum qui modo lapidens dicitur, fransire conaretiir ; but his words deserve
little credit. (See ^thicus, Cosmogr., in Jordan's Topogr., i. 393, n. 1.)

BRIDGES

of a " pons fractus iuxta Marmoratam." They were destroyed
to the water's edge under Sixtus IV. •• On July 28, 1484," says
the Diary of lufessura, " Pope Sixtus sent into camp 400 large
cannon-balls, made of travertine, from the remains of a bridge at
La Marmorata, called • il ponte di Orazio Codes.' " The last traces
were blown up in 1877 to clear the bed of the river.

Literature. — Carlo Fea, in Winckelmanii's edit. Prato, 18;52, vol. xi.
pp. 379-400. — Antonio Xibby, Roma antica, vol. i. \t. 19!l.

Poxs Fabricius (Ponte Quattro capi). — Tlie island of .Escu-
lapius niust have been joined to the left bank by a wooden bridge

Fig. 8. — The iBmilian, Fabriciaii, Ccstiau Bridges, and the Ishiud in Uie Tiber.

as early as 192 b. c. (see Li\y, xxxv. 21, .5) ; another structure nf
the same kind is supposed to have joined the island witli tin-
Trastevere and the fortified summit of the Janiculum. In tlu;
year 62 b. c. Lucius Fabricius, commis.sioner of roads, tran,s-
formed the first into a solid stone bridge. The inscriptions which
commemorate the event, engraved below the parapets on either
side, are followed by a declaration signed by P. Lepidus and M.
Lollius, consuls in 21 b. c. that the work had been duly and satis-
factorily executed. From this declaration we learn one of the
wise principles of the Roman administration — that the contrac-
tors and builders of bridges were held responsible for their solidity

18 GENERAL INFORMATION

for forty years, so that they would regain possession of the de-
posit which tliey made in advance only in the forty-first year
after it liad been made. Nothing speaks more highly in favor of
the bridge than the fact that it is the only one which has survived
intact the vicissitudes of 1957 years. It has two arches and a
smaller one in the pier between them ; a fourth is concealed by
the modern embankment on the left.

The student must remember that the streets of ancient Rome
were from three to five metres lower than the present ones, while
the bridges have remained the same ; the inclines which gave
access to them were, therefore, much longer and steeper than
they are now, and offered space for several more openings or
arches, which have since been buried by the accumulation of the
soil. These steep inclines were called 2^Gdet> pontic, and coscice in
the Middle Ages.

The Pons Fabricius took the name of Pons Judaeorum when the
Jewish colony settled in the neighboring quarter. It is now
called dei Quattro Capi, from the four-headed hermce which once
supported the panels of the parapet. There are only two left in
situ. The river, unfortunately, no longer flows under this most
perfect of Roman bi'idges ; by a miscalculation in the plan of the
new embankment the channel has been dried up, and the Ship of
^sculapius has stranded on a mudbank.

Literature. — Luigi Caniua, Edijizii di Roma antica, vol. iv. tav. 242.
— Corpus Inscr., vol. i. p. 174, ii. 600 ; vol. vi. n. 1305.

Pons Cestius, Pons Gratianus, Ponte di S. Bartolomeo, between
the island and the Trastevere. — Its construction is attributed
to Lucius Cestius, one of the six magistrates whom Csesar en-
trusted with the government of Rome on leaving for Spain in
46 B. c. It was rebuilt by L. Aurelius Avianius Symmachus, pre-
fect of the city, in a. d. 365, and dedicated in the spring of 370
to the Emperor Gratianus. (See Corpus Inscr., vol. vi. p. 245,
n. 1175.) Its third restoration took place in the eleventh
century in the time of Benedict VIII. ; the inscription which
commemorates it describes the bridge as fere dirvtvm in tliose
days. In 1849, the followers of Garibaldi threw one of the in-
scriptions of Gratianus into the stream. The bridge was altered
completely in 1886-89, so that of the three arches only the central
one is ancient. In the course of the last work it was found
that the blocks of travertine used by Symmachns in the restora-
tions of 36.5-370 had been taken away from the theatre of Mar-

BRIDGES

cellus, mainly from the lo\Yei- (Doric) arcades of the hemicycle.
He liad also made use of stones bearing historical inscriptions of
the time of Trajan.

The two bridges made an architectural and pictorial group
with the Ship of iEsculapius.^ It is not known when and by
whom the island was turned into this form. As far as we can

IP^

f: -.-".. .„^

' *-a»4 ■ -H

• -nttrrHt^-' ~ - -

(«.■ ^^,

tz'---

Fig. 9. — The Stern of the Ship of ^sculapius.

judge from the fragment of the stern, represented in the cut above,
the imitation must have been perfect in every detail. The ship,
however, did not appear as if it w'as floating on the river, excej)t
in time of flood, because it rested on a platform 2 metres above
low-water mark. It was entirely built of travertine, and measured
280 metres between the perpendiculars, with a beam of 76 metres.
An obelisk, pieces of which are now preserved in Naples, repre-
sented the main-mast.

A fanciful copy of this island exists in the Villa d' Este at Tivoli
as a part of the plan, or rather model in full relief, of the city

1 Literatin-e on the Island of TEsculapius.— Corf. Vat., Sim, f. 42; Jordan,
Forma Urbis, ix. 42; Corpus fnscr., vol. vi. n. 9-12, 9824; Accad. Rom.
Arch.: sessionc 20 genn. 1881; Becker, Topo(jr., p. 651; Richter, Toporjr.,
p. 158; Gamucci, Antich. di Roma, iv. p, 279; Nibby, Roma antica, ii. 291.

20 GENERAL INFORMATION

of Rome which Pirro Ligorio added to the curiosities of that
delightful place. A stream, derived from the Auio, represents the
Tiber, on which the ship appears to be floating, with the obelisk
in the place of the mast and the coat-of-arms of Cardinal Ippolito
instead of the emblems of the " merciful God."

LiTEKATUKE. — Gio. Battista Piranesi, Anticliita di Roma, vol. iv. pis. 23,
24. — Antonio Nibbj', Roma antica, vol. i. p. 167. — P. Bonato, Annali
tiocieta archit. itallani, vol. iv., 1889, p. 139. — Notizie degli Scavi, 1886,
p. 159; 1889, p. 70.

Pons JEmilius. — In the early days of Rome there was but
one line of communication with the Janiculum and with the cities
on the coast of Etruria : the road that passed over the Sublician
bridge, crossed the plain of Trastevere by S. Cosimato, and
ascended the Janiculum by the Villa Spada. Livy (i. 33 ; v. 40)
and Valerius Maximus (i. 1, 10) describe it, on the occasion of
the flight of the Vestals to Veil ; and Fabretti (De Aq., i. 18, p. 43)
speaks of its rediscovery in the seventeenth century. He saw a
long piece of the jiavement between the bridge and S. Cosimato ;
and where the pavement was missing, as between the Villa Spada
(de Nobili) and the church of S. Pietro Montorio, its course was
marked by a line of tombs on either side. Tlie ascent up the hill
was exceedingly steep, and hardly fit for carriage traffic. Things,
however, were improved in the sixth century of Rome, when a
new bridge and a new and better road were built. M. ^milius
Lepidus and M. Fulvius Nobilior, censors in b. c. 181, founded the
piers ; the arches were added and the bridge was finished thirty-
eight years later. The new road, the Lungaretta of the present
day. was then ti-aced across the low swampy plain of Trastevere,
partly on an embankment, partly on viaducts built of stone. One
of these viaducts was discovered in 1889 near the Piazza di S.
Grisogono, and is described in the Bull. arch, com., 1889, p. 475,
and 1890, pp. 6, 57.

The Pons ^milius, owing to its slanting position across the
river and to the side pressure of the floods against its piers, has
been carried away at least four times : the first during or shortly
before the reign of Probus (about a. d. 280) ; the second in 1230,
when it was rebuilt by Gregory IX. ; the third on September 27,
1557 (rebuilt by Gregory XIII.) ; the fourth on December 24,
1598, after which it was never rej^aired. There is but one arch
left now in mid-stream, the two on the right having been destroyeo"
in 1887.

BRIDGES

LiTERATfKE. — Heiiuich Jordan, Tapographit, i. p. 420. — Pietro Lauciaiii,
Del ponte senatorio. Kome, 1826. — Gio. Battista de Rosi<i, Le prime raccoUe,
etc., p. 57. — Filippo Bonanni, Numism. poiitlf., vol. i. p. -323, n. 38, 39.

Bridge of Agrippa. — A stone cippus, discovered in August,
1877, behind the church of S. Biagio della Pagnotta, near the
Strada Giulia, has revealed the existence and the name of a bridge
of which nol)ody had ever heard before, either from classic writers,
or from inscriptions, coins, or other such soui'ces of information.

The inscription reads as follows : " Bj- order of Tiberius Claudius

Line of new embankment

Line

Ofic/e

bank

Tomb of/--.
Platorinuai

Garden of La Farnesina

A !*

TIBER

'-■>

''■^-/— "-^--i/ne of new embankment
i

Fig. 10. — Foundations of Bridge (?) above the Ponte Sisto.

Csesar, etc., we, Paullus Fabius Persicus, C. Eggius Marullus, C.
Obellius Rufus, L. Sergius Paullus, L. Scribonius Libo, chief con-
servators of the Tiber and its banks, have marked with cippi tlie
limits of public property (on the left bank) from the Tricjarinm to
the Bridge of Agrippa (ad pontrm Af/rippa)."

The Trigarium was an oi)en space, near the Strada Giulia, for
the breaking in and training of horses, for which luirjiose the
ancients availed themselves of the trigaAhe untamed animal being
harnessed between two trained ones. As regards the Bridge of
Agrippa, all our science is at a loss to explain the mystery. It
seems impossible that there should have existed in Eome a large
bridge, thrown across the Tiber by such a man as Agrippa, in the
golden age of Augustus, and yet that not a trace should be left of
it in situ or in wi'itten or engraved documents. Two solutions
are more or less acceptable. The first is that the bridge now-
called Ponte Sisto may have been originally the work of Agrippa.
Its history is unknown. From the name of Pons Aurelius or

22 GENERAL INFORMATION

Pons Antouiiii, given to it in the third century, its construction has
been attributed to Caracalla. Caracalla, however, may have been
simply a restorer, as we know that Roman bridges used to change
their names after every restoration. The second theory is that
Agrippa's bridge was swept away by a flood soon after the accession
of Claudius, and that its remains were carefully removed to restore
free navigation up and down stream. This surmise seems justified
by the discovery made, 100 Jiietres above the Ponte Sisto, of what
appear to be the remains of sunken piers, as shown in Fig. 10.

These remains are lying so low under the bottom of the river,
they are so irregular in shape and in their respective distances
(9.30 metres, 11.50 metres, 23.50 metres), their construction
shows such a curious mixture of large stones and rubble work,
that I still hesitate to consider them to be the remains of Agrippa's
mysterious bridge.

LiTERATUEK. — Luigi Borsari, Notizie. degli Scavi, 1887, p. 323; and Bull,
nrch. com., 1888, p. 92. — Christian Huelsen, j\Iit(heiluii(/en, vol. iv., 188!),
p. 285.

Pons ^lius (Ponte S. Angelo). — A volume could be written
on this most histoi'ical of Roman bridges ; but I confine myself to
the mention of the latest discoveries made in connection with it.

The Pons ^-Elius was built in A. v>. 136 by Hadrian, together
with the mausoleum to which it gave access. The construction
was recorded by two inscriptions (Corpus Tnscriptionum, vi. 973), —
copied by Giovanni Dondi dall' Orologio in the jubilee of 1375, —
which fell into the river in the catastrophe of 1450. There were
six arches visible before the transformation of the bridge in 1892 ;
two more have been discovered since in the long incline of the
left bank, making a total of eight, of which three only served
in the dry season. When the mausoleum was transformed into a
fort or tete de pont in 403, the bridge was closed with two gates,
one at each end. The gate facing the Campus Martins is called
Avprixla by Procopius ; ^ the other, facing the Vatican, was named
Porta S. Petri in Hadrian io, "Hadrianium" meaning the fort.

The access to the bridge from the Campus Martins is repre-
sented in the following remarkable photograph taken in July,
1892. The incline is 40 metres long, with a gradient of eleven
per cent. The roadway is paved in the ordinary Roman fashion,
the side pavement being of slabs of travertine. The holes on the
outer edges of the sidewalks mark the linP of the parapets, frag-
1 Goth. i. 19. See Becker, De Maris, p. 113.

BRIDGES

ments of which have been found in situ. They were composed
of pilasters and panels, very neatly carved. On December 19,

Fig. 11. — The Incline to the iElian Bridge from the Campus Martins (Left Bank).

1450, while great crowds were returning from S. Peter's, where
Nicholas V. had been showing- the Sudarium. a mule belonging to
Cardinal Pietro Barltn became restive and caused a panic. Tlie
parapets gave Avay imder the pressure, and one hundred and
seventy-two pilgrims fell into the river. To prevent the recurrence

24 GENERAL INFORMATION

of such a calamity, Nicholas V. opened the modern Piazza di
Ponte (enlarged 1854) ; he also built two expiatory chapels at the
entrance to the bridge, from the designs of Bernardo Rossellino.
During the siege of the castle of S. Angelo in 1527, Clement VII.
and his garrison were much exposed to shots fired by outposts
concealed in the chapels. After his liberation the pope caused
them to be demolished, and raised in their place two statues, of S.
Peter by Lorenzetto and of S. Paid by Paolo Romano. The other
statues, representing angels with the symbols of the Passion, were
added by Bernini in 1668. In the course of the works of 1892 it
was ascertained that the foundations of the chapels of Nicholas
V. had been built with pieces of statuary and architectural
marbles (described by Visconti in Bull. arch, com., 1892, p. 263).

LiTEKATUKE. — Gio. Battista Piranesi, Antichita, vol. iv. — Antonio Nibby,
Roma antlcn, vol. i. p. 159. — Eodolfo Lanciani, Jtiner. di EindtdJtn, p. 15 ;
and Bull, com.., 1893, p. 14. — Liiigi Borsari, Notiziedegli (Scaw, 1892, p. 411. —
Christian Huelsen, Mittheilungai, 1894, p. 321.

A hundred metres below the Ponte S. Angelo the remains of
another bridge appear at low water. It is probably the work of
Nero, who did so much to beautify and enlarge the gardens in the
district of the Vatican, which he had inherited from Agrippina
the elder. The classic name of the bridge is not known, although
many have been suggested (Neronianus, Vaticanus, Triumphalis).
In the Middle Ages it was called Pons mptus ad S. Sjnritum in
Saxia. See —

Gio. Battista Piranesi, Antichita, vol. iv. pi. 13 ; vol. i. p. 13, n. 91 ; and
Camp. Mart., pi. 45. — Stefano Piale, in Venuti's Roma antica, vol. ii. p. 190.
— Antonio Niliby, Roma antica, vol. i. p. 205.

Pons Valextinianus (Ponte Sisto). — The bridge of Valen-
tinian I., represented by the modern Ponte Sisto, was one of the
noblest structures spanning the river. It was rebuilt in 366 and
367 by the same Symmachus whom I have mentioned in connec-
tion with the Pons Gratianus, with the spoils and on the site of an
older one (of Agrippa? or Caracalla?), and was dedicated to Va-
lentinian and Valens. Overthrown by the inundation of 797 (?),
it was repaired by Sixtus IV., in 1475, from the designs of Baccio
Pontelli. In 1878, the branch of the river which flows under the
first arch on the left having been diverted, the corresponding arch
of Valentinian's bridge was found lying bodily on the bottom of
the stream in such good order that the pieces of an inscription,
which ran from one end to the other of the south parapet, were

BRIDGES ^O

discovered in their proper succession. A triumphal arch which
decorated the approach from tlie Campus ^lartius ^ had fallen also
into the river, with the bronze statues and groups by which it was
crowned. The pieces, recovered in 1878, are now' exhibited in the
Museo delle Terme, except a head which found its way into the

Fig. 12. — Bronze Head found in the Tiber.

aiiti(|uarian market and was bought, many years later, by Ales-
sandro Castellani. This remarkable head is of the highest im-

1 As in classic times triumphal arches were raised on the Sacra Via leading
to the Capitdlium, so in the Christian era they were raised on the roads con-
verging towards S. Peter's; and es|iecially ad pedes pontium, at the foot of tlie
bridges wliicli the jiilgrims crossed on their way to the Apostle's tomb. That
of Gratianus Valentinianus and Tlieodosius stood in the Piazza di Ponte S.
Angelo ; that of Arcadius, Honorius, and Theodosius at the approach to the
Pons Vaticanus ; that of Valentinianus and Valens bv the Ponte Sisto.

26 GENERAL INFORMATION

portance in regard to the controversy whether the bronze statues
placed on this and other monuments of the end of the fourth
century were contemporary works, or simply spoils from earlier
edifices which were considered to answer the new purpose more or
less satisfactorily ; and also whether the head was changed or not
into a new likeness. Experts consider this head to be of better
style than that prevalent in the second half of the fourth centui'y.

The parapets were divided into panels by projecting pilasters.
Each panel contains six or eight letters of an inscription which
ran the whole length on either side, and each pilaster an in-
scription of its own regarding the statue placed upon it. One of
the pedestals found in 1892 is dedicated " to the august Victory,
faithful companion of our lords and masters, the S. P. Q. R.,
under the care of Avianius Symmachus, ex-prefect of the city."
Near it was lying the right wing of the statue of Victory. It is
evident, therefore, that if a proper seai'ch were made in the bed of
the river nearly all the bronzes of the bridge could be recovered.

The fragments of the Pons Valeutinianus are dispersed in vari-
ous corners of the Museo delle Ternie. The inscriptions of Sixtus
IV. are in the Museo JMuiiicipale al Celio (Orto botanico).

LiTEKATUKE. — Bull, (ircli . com., 1878, p. 241. — Rodolfo Lanciani, Ancient
Rome, p. 257. — Theodor Mommsen, in Ephem. ejwjr., vol. iv. p. 279. — Chris-
tian Huelseii, Mitlhellungen, 18!)2, p. 3213.

VII. Traiectus (ferries). — The traffic between the two banks
of the Tiber was cai'ried on also by means of ferries, known by
the name of traiectus, the tra(/hetti of the present day. Each had
a name of its own : like the traiectus LucuUi, Marmorariorum,
Togatensium at Ostia (Corpus Inscriptionum, xiv. 254, 403, 42.5).
The sites of the ferries at Home are marked by corresponding pos-
terns in the walls of Aurelian, along the banks of the Campus
Martins : thei'e was one at the Porto di Ripetta, others at the Porto
della Tinta, at the Posterula Domitia, at the Porto dell' Armata,
etc. The ferries of the Armata and Ripetta lasted till 1887.

Literature. — Bidl. arch, com.., 1889, p. 175 ; and Nolli's Pianta di Roma,
1748.

VIII. Ob.jects of Value in the Bed of the River. —

The belief in their existence dates from the Middle Ages. Leav-
ing aside the old stories of the seven-branched candlestick and
of tlie gold-plate of Agostino Chigi, which rest on no foundation of
truth, the dredging works carried out since 1877 prove that the
bed of the Tiber contains a marvelous quantity of objects of value,

THE BED OF THE RIVER 27

from bronze statues, masterpieces of GrEeco-Roman art, down to
the smallest articles of personal wear, from Hint arrowheads of
preliistoric times to the weapons used in fighting the French in
1849. The dredging, unfortunately, has been only superficial, its
purpose being to give the stream a uniform depth of 9 feet ;
while the objects of value have been absorbed to depths which
vary from 3 to 35 feet below the bottom of the river. Twice
only the maximum depth has been reached (Ponte Garibaldi,
Ponte Sisto), and on either occasion a great mass of works of
art or antiquity has been gathered.^ By comparing these discov-
eries with those made in the foundation of the embankment walls,
we have satisfied ourselves on several points : —

1. That, however great the absorbing power of mud and sand-
banks is, the objects are not so deeply hidden as to be beyond the
reach of man.

"2. That the i)ower of the current to wash lieavy objects down
stream, even in time of flood, is moderate. A fragment of the
annals of the Salii palatini, which fell or was thrown into the
river at the Sponda della Regola towards the end of the fifth
century, was recovered in 18W1, .5.50 metres below that point. The
fragment had traveled, therefore, at the slow rate of 39 metres per
century.

3. That there is a certain chronological regularity in the
strata of sunken objects, each stratum corres})onding to one of
the revolutions, sieges, and political disturbances so frequent in
the history of Home. The higher strata are contemporary with
the siege and capture of the city by General Oudinot, when
thousands of " improvised " war weapons were thrown into the
river to avoid detection. There are traces of the disturbances
of 1831, of the French Revolution, and of the Napoleonic Avars.
These objects are more curious than valuable. The real wealth
begins with the layer corresponding to the Sacco di Roma of 1527,
not to speak of mediaeval or barbaric invasions. For two or three
years the average of coins dredged up amounted to twelve hun-
dred per month, mostly coppers of the last tM'o centuries, even
of popes whose reigns were peaceful and undisturbed. How
did they happen to be there ? The solution of the mystery lies,
perhaps, in the fact that the dirt collected from the streets or
from private houses was thrown daily into the river at two points,
"la Penna" above Ripetta, and S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini. To
lose money in the streets is a rare occurrence, but at home it hap-
1 See AncH-nt Rome, p. 257.

GENERAL INFORMATION

pens very easily : coppers may drop on the carpets and roll under

pieces of furniture, and when
servants sweep the rooms the
coins may get mixed up with
the dust. Such refuse has been
thrown into the river for
many centuries.

4. That the objects sunk
in the river are recovered in
good condition, whether of
terra-cotta, or marble, or metal,
iroir excluded. Iron not only
gets rusty and almost dis-
solved in water, but imparts
to marble — if in contact with
it — a deep reddish hue, which
is qiiite characteristic of the
Tiberine scidpture. Brass Im-
perial and Republican coins
are splendidly preserved, but
W'ithout " patina," which
makes them less valuable in
tlie market.

I can give no better evi-
dence of the care which Old
Father Tiber has taken of the
works of art intrusted to him
than by reproducing liere one
of the marble statues found in
his bed not long ago. This
archaic Apollo, a copy of a
bronze original, is now exhib-
ited in a cabinet of the Museo
delle Terme on the south side
of the quadrangle. A short
notice of the find is given
in the " Mittheilungen " of

1891, p. 802. Compare " Notizie degli Scavi," 1891, pp. 287 and

337 ; Ilelbig's " Guide," vol. ii. p. 21-1, n. 1028.

Fig. 13. — Statue found in the Tiber.

IX. Cloac'.e (drains). — The hills of the left bank, from the
Pincian to the C'ajlian, follow one another so as to make three val-

CLOACA

leys, each having its o\Yn outlet for spring, rain, and waste waters.
The northern basin, between the Pincian and the Quirinal, was
di'ained by the river Petronia, which collected the Sallustian
springs, and fell into the Tiber a little above oui- Ponte Garibaldi ;
the middle basin, between the Quirinal and the Esquiline, by a
river probably called Spinon, which collected the waters of the
Vicus Longus, Vicus Patricius, and the Subura, crossed the Argi-
letum, the Forum, and the Velabrum, and joined the Tiber at the

Fig. 14. — The Course of tlie Cloaca Maxima.

present mouth of tlie Cloaca ^Maxima ; the southern basin, lietween
the Esquiline, the CcTelian, and the Aventine. by a third river (Xo-
dinus), :3G0() metres long. After receiving eight tributaries from
the springs of Apollo, of the Camoenaj, of ^lercury, of the Piscina
Publica, etc., it emptied itself into the Tiber a little below the
mouth of the Cloaca Maxima. (See map, Fig. 1.)

The first step towards the regulation of these three rivers was
taken even before the advent of the Tarquins. Their banks were
then lined with great square blocks of stone, leaving a channel
about 5 feet wide, so as to prevent the spreading and the wander-
ing of flood-water, and provide the swampy valleys with a perma-
nent drainage ; but, strange to say, the course of the streams was
not straightened nor shortened. If the reader looks at the map
above (Fig. 14), representing the course of the Cloaca Maxima
tlirough the Argiletum and the Velabrum, he will find it so
twisted and irregular as to resemljle an Alpine torrent more than
a drain built h\ skillful Etruscan engineers. The same thing may
be repeated for the other main lines of drainage in the valleys
Sallustiana, Murcia, etc. When the increase of the population
and the extension of the city bej'ond the boundaries of the Pala-
tine made it necessary to cover those channels and make them run

30 GENERAL INFORMATION

underground, it was too late to think of straightening their course,
because their banks were already fixed and built over.

The Roman cloacae have been overpraised. It is certainly a
marvelous fact that some of them were still in use a few years
ago, after a lapse of twenty-six centuries ; but they bid defiance
to modern sanitary principles. First of all, they served to carry
off the sewage and the rain-water together. This double employ-
ment made it necessary to have large openings along the street,
which exposed the popidation to the effluvia of the sewers. In
the third place, the sewers emptied themselves directly into the
Tiber, thus polluting its waters, which were vised not only for
bathing but also for drinking purposes. Only six years ago did
the Tiber cease to be the cesspool of Rome. It must also be
borne in mind that the "latrina" of Roman houses was incon-
veniently placed next the kitchen, and the same cloaca was used
for the sinks. Against such great dangers to public and private
health the Romans had but two protections : the masses of water
by which the drains were constantly Hushed, and the hilly nature
of the city ground, which allowed them to give the drains a steep
gradient.

Drains dating from the time of the Kings or of the Republic
are built of blocks of peperino and lapis Gabinus (sperone), those
of the Imperial period of bricks. Two tiles, placed against each
other in a slanting position, form the roof ; the floor is made of
a large tile slightly convex. There are no sluices or flood-gates.

The Cloaca Maxima and tliat of the Vallis Murcia (described
in Ancient Rome. p. 54 ; and Bull. arch, com., 1892, \i. 279) are by
no means alone in respect of their size, length, and magnificence
of construction. There is a third, discovered by I^nrico Narducci
in the ])lain of the Circus Flaminius, equal, if not superior, to
them. The section which Narducci explored in 1880 begins at
the corner of Via Paganica with the Piazza Mattel, and runs in a
straight line to the Tiber, by the Ponte Garibaldi. Its side walls
are built of blocks of lapis Gabinus, some of which measure 45
cubic feet ; the arched roof is made of five blocks only, wedged
together ; the floor is paved like that of a Roman road. It runs
at the considerable depth of 9.53 metres under the modern city.
(See Bull. Inst.. 1881, p. 209.)

We must remember that these great sewers were built through
marshes and ponds, and generally through a soil soaked with
spring-water. Rome may be said to be floating over this subter-
ranean alluvium even now. In the sixty days required to build

CLOACA 31

the sewer of the Via del Babuino in 1875, 650,000 cubic metres of
water were absorbed by seven steam pumps. The inundation of
the Coliseum in 187S could not possibly be got under control :
powerful engines only lowered it by a few inches, and it cost tlie
city nearly one million lire to provide the Coliseum with a regular
outlet.

The level of the subterranean flood has risen since Roman
times. In the foundations of the Banca di Roma and of tlie
Palazzo Canale, on either side of the Via Poli, the pavement of a
street was found under two feet of water. The cellars of the wine
docks, discovered in 1877 in the gardens of la Farnesina (celUe
riiiarice Nova et Arruntiana), were flooded up to the key of their
vaulted roofs. The chefs-d'oeuvre of Saitic art, discovered by
Tranquilli in 1858 in the sacred area of the Iseum, near the ajxse
of la Minerva, were lying on the floor of the peristyle tliree feet
under water. An excavation made by Parker in 18(J9 in Cara-
calla's Baths, by SS. Nereo and Achiileo, in the Via di Porta 8. Se-
bastiano, had to be given up, although successful, in conseijuence
of the invasion of spring-water.

In the many hundred antique drains discovered in my time, I
have never seen a sign of communication with the houses lining
tlie streets through whicli the drains passed. All the side chan-
nels which emi)ty into the Cloaca Maxima, from the Forum Au-
gustum to the Tiber, belong to streets or public buildings — none
to private dwellings. The same observation has been made with
regai'd to the sewers of the Escjuiline, Viminal, etc. This fact would
lead us to believe that cesspools, or pozzl neri, were more popu-
lar in R(mie than the latrina, communicating directly with the
public sewei-. Yet only one pozzo ncro has been found in our
excavations. It is described in the Bull. arch, com., 1892, p. 285.
In the same periodical, 1873, p. 24:$, pi. ii., .3, there is a description
and the design of a latrina discovered in the drilling grounds of
the Praetorians, Via Magenta., No. 2. Fig. 15 (next page) repre-
sents the latrina annexed to the guest-rooms of the Villa Adri-
an a.

LiTEKATUKE. — Antlke Denkmdler of the German Arch. Inst., vol. i., 1889,
taf. xxxvii. — £«//. arch, com., 1872, p. 279; 1890, p. 95, pis. 7, 8. — Pietro
NardiK'ci, Focpintura della clttu di Roma sulla siniglra del Tevere, Rome, 1884;
and Roma notterranea, Ulustraz. della cloaca massima, 1885. — Codex Ixxv. 68,
in the Kinfj's Lihvarv, B. M., p. 15. — Theodor Schreiber, Berichte der sacks.
GesellschaJ't der IViss., 1885, p. 78. — Rudolfo Lanciaui, Ancient Rome, p. 54.

GENERAL INFORM A TION

Fig. 15. — The Latrina annexed to the Guest-Rooms of tl

X. The Quarries from which Rome was built. — The

materials used in Roman constructions are the lapis ruber (tufa) ;
tlie lapis Alhanus (peperino) ; the lapis Gabinus (sperone) ; the
lapis Tiburtinus (travertino) ; the silex (selce) ; and bricks and
tiles of various kinds. The cement was composed of pozzolana
(0.67) and lime (0.33). Imported marbles came into fashion
towards the end of the Republic, and became soon after the pride
and glory of Rome. .

A. Tufa (lapis ruber). — The only material which the first
builders of Rome found at hand was the volcanic conglomerate
called tufa. The (quality of the stone used in those early days
was far from perfect. The walls of the Palatine hill and of the
Capitoline citadel were built of material quarried on the spot —
a mixture of charred pumice-stones and reddish volcanic sand.
The quarries of the Palatine M-ill be described in the proper
place. Those used for the fortifications of the Capitol were
located at the foot of the hill towards the Argiletum, and were so
important as to give their name, Lautumice, to the neighboring
district. It is probable that the pi'ison called Tullianum, from a
jet of water, tullus, which sprang from the rock, was originally a
portion of this quarry. The tufa blocks employed by Servius

THE QUARRIES 33

Tullius for the building of the city walls, and of the agger, ai>
pear to be of three (qualities — yellowish, reddish, and gray; the
first, soft and easily broken up, seems to have been quarried from
the Little Aventnie, near the church of S. Saba. The galleries
of this ([uarry, much disfigured by mediaeval and modern use, can
be followed to a considerable distance, although the collapsing
of the vaults makes it dangerous to visit them. I have entered
these recesses only twice, with the late ^Ir. J. H. Parker, while
trying to rediscover the channel of the Aqua Appia, first seen and
described by Raffaello Fabretti about 1675. I am not able to say
where Servius found the reddish tufa (Cervara?). The quarries
of the third quality were, or I'ather one of them was, discovered
on February 7, 1^72, in the Vigna Querini. outside the Porta 8.
Lorenzo, near the first milestone of the Vicolo di Valle Cupa. It
was a surface (juarry, comprising five trenches IG feet wide, J) feet
deep. Some of the blocks, already scjuared, were lying on the floor
of the trenches, others were detached on two or tliree sides oidy,
the size of others was sinqily traced on the rock by vertical or
horizontal lines. (See illustration in Bull. arch, com., 18S8, pis.
i., ii., figs. 3-G.) This tufa, better known by the name of cap])el-
laccio, is very bad. The only buildings in which it was used,
Itesides the inner wall of the Servian agger, are the platform of
the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, in the gardens of the German
Embassy, and the puticuli in the burial-grounds of the Esqui-
line. Its use must have been given up before the end of the
period of the Kings, in consecpience of the discovery of better
quarries on the right bank of the Tiber, at the foot of the liills
now called Monte Verde. A description of these last, still in use,
can be found in the —

Nnthie (h';/l! Scnv!, 188(5, p. 454; 1888, p. 1.30; 188!t, pp. 71 and 24:3.— AV//.
arch, com., i892, p. 288. — MittheUungen, 1891, p. 14!i.

They cover a space about one mile in length and a quarter of
a mile wide on eacli side of the valley of Pozzo Pantaleo. In fact,
this valle}-, which runs from the Via Portuensis towards the lake
of the Villa Pamphili, seems to be artificial ; I mean, produced by
the extraction of the rock by millions of cubic metres in the
course of twenty-four centuries. If the work of the ancient
quarrymen could be freed from the loo.se material which conceals
it from view, we should possess within a few minutes' di'ive from
the Porta Portese a reproduction of the famous mines of El ]Ma-
sarah. with beds of rock cut into steps and terraces, with roads

34 GENERAL INFORMATION

and lanes, shafts, inclines, underground passages, and outlets for
the discluirge of rain-water. The cuttings on either side show two
strata of tufa : the upper, 8 metres thick, is a very hard ash-col-
ored rock resembling in texture the pudding-stone ; the lower, of
a light red color and less comjaact, is fractured by seams and veins,
so that it cannot be obtained in large blocks ; and as the purpose
of the Romans was to obtain cubes from 3 to 5 feet long, as shown
by a few left on the spot, they used the lower or reddish stone
only to make prisms for reticulated masonry. The gallei'ies of
the qiiarry vary in size from 10 to 20 feet, and their floor is lev-
eled so as to conduct the rain-water to one central outlet, running
towards the brook of Pozzo Pantaleo. AVhen a (piarry had given
out, its galleries were filled up with the refuse of the neighboring
ones — chips left over after the squaring of the blocks ; so that, in
many cases, the color and texture of the chips do not correspond
with those of the quarry in which they are found. Tins layer of
refuse, transformed by time into humus, and worked upon by hu-
man and atmospheric forces, has given the valley a different aspect,
so that it looks as if it were the work not of quarrymen, but of
nature. Some of the abandoned galleries were transformed into
tombs and columbaria. One raised by Aurelius Niketa to his
daughter iElianetis contains the following inscription : Fossor, vide
ne fodias ! Deus inaynus oculus hahet. Vide, et tu'JiHos hales.
Which means, " Quarryman, do not approach this tomb : the
great God watches thee ; remember that thou also hast children."
These words prove that tombs and (juarries were contemporary
and not very far apart.

Tufa may be found used in many existing monuments of an-
cient Rome, such as the drains of the middle and southern basin
of the left bank, the channels and arches of the Marcia and Anio
vetus, the Servian walls, the temples of Fortuna Virilis, of Her-
cules Magnus Gustos, the Rostra, tlie embankment of the Tiber,
etc. The largest and most magnificent quarries in the suburban
district are the so-called Grotte della Cervara. No words can
convey an idea of their size and of the regularity of their plan.
They seem to be the work of a fanciful architect who has hewn
out of the rock halls and galleries, courts and vestibules, and imi-
tated the forms of an Assyrian palace. The quarries of La Ger-
vara, at the fiftli milestone of the Via Gollatina, are described
by Strabo (lib. v.).

B. Pkpkrixo (lapis Albanus). — For the study of the peperino
mines, which contain a stone special to tlie Alban district, formed

THE QUARRIES 35

by the action of hot water on gray volcanic cinders, the reader
should follow on foot the line of the new Albano railway, from the
place called II Sassone to the town of Marino. Many of the
valleys in this district, now made beautiful by vineyards and
oliveyards, owe their existence to the pickaxe of the Roman
stonecutter, like the valley of Pozzo Pantaleo. The most curious
sight is a dolmen or isolated rock 10 metres high, left in the
centre of one of the quarries to certify the thickness of the bed
of rock excavated. In fact, the whole district is very interesting
both to the archaeologist and to the paysaffiste. The mines of Ma-
rino, still worked in the neighborhood of the railway station, would
count, like the Grotte della Cervara, among the wonders of the
C'ampagna, were they known to the student as they deserve to be.

If the discovery of a piece of " xs grave signatum " in a seam
of peperino near the Ponte di S. Gennaro, between Civita Lavinia
and Velletri, could be proved true (by the exhilution not of the
l)iece alone, but of its mould on the rock itself, which has not been
done yet), the stone would ap]iear to be of modern formation.

The principal Roman buildings in which the lapis Albanus
has been used are: the Claudian acpieduct, the Cloaca Maxima,
tlie temples of Antoninus and Faustina, of Cybele, of the Eventus
Bomis, of Neptune, the inclosure wall of the Forum Augustum,
Forum Ti'ansitorium, and Forum Pacis, the Porticus Argonauta-
rum, Porticus Pompeii, the Ustrinum of the Appian Way, etc.
The sarcopliagus of Cornelius Scipio Barbatus in the Vatican
museum, and the tomb of the Tibicines in the JNIuseo Municipale
al Celio are also of this stone.

C. Travertixo (lapis Tibiirtinus). — (Quarried in the plains of
Tivoli at places now called Le Caprine, Casal Bernini, and II Barco.
This last was reopened aftei" an interval of many centuries by
Count (i. Brazza, brother of the African explorer. Lost in the
wilderness and overgrown with shrubs, it had not been examined,
I believe, since the visit of Brocchi. It can be reached by stop-
ping at the station of the Aqute Albiilse, on the Tivoli line, and
following the ancient road which led to the works. This road,
twice as wide as the Appian Way, is flanked by substructures, and
is not paved, but macadamized. Parallel with it runs an aqueduct
which supplied the works with motive power, derived probably
from the sulphur springs. There are also remains of tombs, one
of which, octagonal in shape, serves as a foundation to the farm-
house del Barco.

The most remarkable monument of the whole group is the

36 GENERAL INFORMATION

Roman quarry froui which five and a half million cubic metres
of travertine have been extracted, as proved by the measurement
of the hollow space between the two opposite vertical sides. That
this is the most important ancient quarry of travertine, and the
largest one used by the Romans, is proved, in the first place, by
its immense size. The sides show a frontage of more than two
and a half kilometres ; the surface amounts to 500,000 square
metres. The sides are quite perpendicular, and have the peculiar-
ity of projecting buttresses, at an angle of 90°. Some of these
buttresses are isolated on three sides, and still preserve the
grooves, more or less deep, by means of which they could be
separated from the solid mass ; these grooves vary in dejith from
50 centimetres to 2 metres, and look fresh and sharp, as if
the quarry had been abandoned only a short time ago. The
second argument is furnished by the indirect traces of the work
of man, which show that the excavation must at least be many
centuries old. In order to keep the bottom of the works clean
and free for the movenient of the carts, for the action of the
cranes, and for the manoeuvres of the workmen, the chips, or
useless product of the squaring of the blocks, were transported to
a great distance, as far as the banks of the Anio, and there piled
up to a great height. This is the origin of that chain of hills
which runs parallel to the river, and of whose artificial formation
no one, as far as I know, had the least suspicion. One of these
hills, visible from every point of the neighbo)'ing district, from
Hadrian's villa as well as from the Suljihur Baths, is elliptical in
shape, 22 metres high, 90 metres long, and 65 metres wide. It
can with reason be compared with our Testaccio. It is easy to
imagine how immense must have been the number of blocks cut
from the Cava del Barco during the period of the formation of
this hill alone. Another proof of the antiquity of the quarry, and
of its abandonment from Imperial times down to our own day, is
given by this fact. The Aqute Albulse, the most copious sulphur
springs of central Italy, collected into canals by the Romans and
subjected to a scientific hydraulic regime, were allowed free play
from the first barbaric invasion up to the sixteenth centuiy, when
Cardinal Ippolito d' Este gathered them again into the channel
which takes its name from him, and w^hich is in use at the present
day. In this long period of abandonment it seems that the prin-
cipal branch of the wandering waters directed its course towards
the Cava del Barco, leaping from the rim of the nortli vertical
side into the chasm below. This fall of water, saturated with

THE Qr ARMIES

carbonate and sulpliate of lime, and la.sting for many centuries, pro-
duced the following effect. The north wall was concealed under
a hard chalky incrustation, and transformed into a slope with an
inclination of 45° or 50°. Tliis stratum of recent formation is,
on an average, H metres wide at the base, and only a few centi-
metres at the top. Stonecuttei's in the quarry are now obliged to
remove this crust before reaching the ancient walls of travertine,
which still preserve the traces of the blows of the Roman pickaxe.
At the bottom of the quarry we meet with arother phenomenon.
The stratum of chips which covers it has been cemented and
pasted over by chalky sediments, forming beds and layers of a
hard breccia resembling the pudding-stone. The southern walls
of the quaiTy, on the contrary, are free from incrustations, a.s they
have never been in contact with the sulphur water.

The system now followed in qnarr\'ing tlie l>locks is the same
as that which prevailed in old times. The fon-nian ascertains

Fig. 16. — The Quarries of Travertine, Cava del Barco.

the weak point of the rocky mass, and the vertical or horizontal
line of the seams, and directs his men to jilace steel wedges alono-
the weak line, and hammer them simultaneously, the moveiuent
being timed to the rh\^hm of a song. This illustration, from a
photograph which I took in December, 1893, explains the process

38 GENERAL INFORMATION

better than any description could do. The large block in the
foreground has already been detached on four sides, and the men
are busy placing the steel wedges on the weak seam at the bottom.
I need not say that as many men are required to hammer as
there are wedges. Sometimes the task is accomplished at the first
stroke, sometimes it requires half an hour's work.

D. SiLEX (selce). — Used for rubble-work in small fragments,
and for paving streets and roads in larger pieces of iientagonal
shape. The stone was quarried from four lava streams which had
flowed from the Alban volcanoes in the direction of Rome (Capo
di Bove, Acqua Acetosa, Borghetto, and Monte Falcone), and from
one stream of the Sabatine range (S. Maria di Galera). The
working of the quarries, the cutting and shaping of the paving-
stones, the laying in and repairing of pavements, was intrusted
to a large body of trained men, organized in companies and di-
rected by government officials.' The material was kept in store
in a great state building named Castra Silicariorum, which may
have served also as barracks for the Silicarii. The institution is
still flourishing under the name of "Magazzino dei Selci." The
present works occupy a large tract of land north of the Protestant
cemetery in the plains of Testaccio.

Pumice-stone was used occasionally by Roman masons to dimin-
ish the weight and lateral pressure of great vaulted ceilings, as in
the baths of C'aracalla.

LiTEKATURE. — The introductory chapters of W\([A\eUm'ii Remains of An-
cient Rome (2d ed. 1892), dealing with the site and sreneral features of the city,
with the materials of which it is built, and with the methods of construction,
are the best ever written on the subject. The author shows himself a special-
ist of unrivaled knowledge. So thoroughly has he mastered the technicalities
of ancient masonry and stonework that he makes clear and almost agreeable a
subject which students have usually avoided as dry and difHcnlt to understand.
An abridged memoir on the same subject, issued by the same author, is to be
found in vol. xli. of the Ai-clHeolof/in, 1888: "On the Chief Methods of Con-
struction used in Ancient Rome."

Compare also, Giovanni Brocchi, Delia stafo Jisico del svulo di Roma, 1820,
p. 10!); Antonio Nibhv, Dei mnteriaU imjrrer/ftti nelle fahhriche di Roma,delle
cosli-Kzioni, e dello stile (in Roma antica, vol. i. p. 234); Faustino Corsi, Delle
pietre antiche, Rome, 1845, pp. 11-76.

XI. Bricks. — There are three collections of brick-stamps in
Rome : one, of little value, in the Kircherian museum ; the second

1 The procurator ad silices, cir procurator silicum viarum sacrce urhis, subject
to the authority of the Minister of Public Works. (See Corpus Inscriptionum,
vi. 1598; and Orelli-Henzen, n. 6519.)

BRICKS 39

in the last room of the Vatican Library, past the " Nozze aldo-
braudiue ; " the third and best in tiie INIiiseo Municipale al Celio.
This last contains over a thousand specimens, and a unique set
of the products of Roman kilns. In fact, the tirst hall of the
Museo is set apart exclusively for the study of ancient building
and decorative materials.

Roman liricks were square, oblong, triangular, or round, the
latter being used only to build columns in the Pompeian style.
The square species comprises the tcfjukv hlpcdales, of 0.59 metre x
(K.ISJ; the teyuUe sesquipedales, of 0.45 metre X 0.45; and the
Idlercull bessales, used in hypocausts, of 0.'J"2 metre X 0.22. Arches
were built of a variety of the hij)C(/(iles, of the same length, but only
(1.22 in width, and slightly wedged. The triangular bricks were
obtained by cutting diagonally a liijidn Iwssalh witii a wooden rule
or a string before it was put into the kiln. T]u> largest bricks
discovered in my time measure 1.05 metre in length. They were
set into an arch of one of the great stairs leading to tiie avenue or
boulevard, established in Inqtciial times on tlie lop of the agger
of Servius (railway station).

Roman l)ricks aic very often stamped with a seal, the legend
of which contains tlie names of the owner and manager of the
kihis, of tlie maker of the tile, of the merchant intrusted with tlie
sale of the products, and of the consuls under whose term of office
the bricks were made. These indications are not necessarily found
all in one seal.

The most inq)oi'tant of them is tlie consular date, because it
hel|is tlie student to determine, within certain limits, the date of
tJH^ l)uildiiig itself. The rule, however, is far from being absolute,
and before iixing the date of a Roman structure from that of its
brick stanq)S one must take into eonsideratitni many other points
of circumstantial evidence.

When we examine, for instance, the grain warehouses at Ostia,
or Hadrian's villa at Tivoli, and find that their walls have never
undergone repairs, that their masonry is characteristic of the first
quarter of the second century, that their bricks bear the dates of
Hadrian's age and no others, we may I'est assured that the stamps
s])eak the truth. Tlieir evidence is, in such a case, conclusive.
Rut if the l)ricks are variously dated, or bear the names of various
kilns, and not of one or two only, then their value as an evidence
of the date of a building is diminished, if not lost altogether.

The following case, derived from personal experience, will ex-
plain the point. Professor Jordan, in a remarkable speech deliv-

40 GENERAL INFORMATION

ered on April 25, 1884, at the German Institute, attributed the
house of the Vestals to the age of Hadrian, because he had found
a stamp of Domitius Tullus (a. d. 59-95) on the south wing of
the atrium ; three of Cn. Domitius Clemens (111-128) in the stairs
leading to the first floor ; two of Rutilius Lupus (110-122) in one
of the cells of the first floor ; and so on.^ Yet there was no doubt
in my mind that the building was renewed from the foundation,
and on a different plan, by Septimius Severus and Julia Domna,
and tliat Hadrian had nothing to do with it. I was able to prove
the case so clearly - that Jordan's theory was abandoned, and my
contention as to the date was adopted. The presence of bricks of
Hadrian's time can be easily explained. When Severus undertook
the reconstruction of the house of the Vestals and of the whole
adjoining quarter, which had been devastated by the fire of Corn-
mod us, he began by leveling to the ground the remains of the
buildings which had partly withstood the violence of the flames.
The materials so saved were put aside and used in the reconstruc-
tion of the Atrium Vestae.

The circular seals have often a symbol in the centre — a figure
of a god or a goddess, a leaf, a fruit, etc. Sometimes the symbol
has a phonetic value. Thus we find the image of the wolf im-
pressed on the tiles of INI. Rutilius Lupus ; of the wild boar on
those of Flavins Aper ; of the eagle on those of Aquilia Sozomena ;
the wreath {(rTf<p6.vn) on those of C. Jiilius Stephanus, etc.

The name of the building for which the bricks were destined
appears only in three seals : Castris Pra'toris, " for the prsetorian
camp;" Partus Atu/usli, "for the Claudian harbor at Ostia ; " and
Partus Traiani, " for the harbor of Civitavecchia."

Brick-kilns were called figUnct., theu" sections or workshops
ojficince. The kilns were named either after their owner, Ac'dia-
nce, Fulviance, etc. ; from their being situated in a district, Sala-
renses, de via Aurelia, etc.; or from the street on which they were
placed, a Pila alta, ah Euripa, ad Mercurium felicem. It is possi-
ble, however, that some fanciful name might have been, selected
without any reference to the owner or to the site of the works.
The sheds under which the materials were kept ready for sale or
for shijiment were called horrea and partus respectively.

The legends sometimes show curious mistakes of spelling : opup
for opus; phi</([mi^.) iov Jig (\ms^) ; pradia ior pra'dia, etc.

The bricks, again, occasionally bear curious signs, such as foot-
marks of chickens, dogs, or pigs, which stepped over them while
1 See Bull. Inst., 1884, p. 92. 2 Jhid,^ p. 145.

BRICKS 41

still fresh, impressions of coins and medals, words or sentences
scratched with a nail, etc. A bricklayer, who had perhaps seen
better times in his youth, wrote on a tegula bipedalis the first
verse of the ^neid, " Anna virnmque cano," etc.

Names of murdered Emperors were sometimes struck off the
stamp, like that of Commodus in No. 541, b (Corpus Inscriptio-
niim, XV. 1). After the murder of Geta, the seal avggg • nnn,
which meant " of our three Emjierors, Severus, Caracalla, and
Geta," was changed into AVGG//iNN/y/ by the erasure of the third
G and of the third N.

Antiquarians have discussed the question whether the seals
were cast in metal or carved in hard wood, or whether they were
made up of movable types, incased in a metal frame. The fact
that letters upside down are not uncommon (like sacckssi for
svccESSi) has been adduced to prove that the types were mova-
ble; but, on the other hand, we have specimens of seals cast
bodily in lead or bronze, such as those found in the Tiber in
1879 (Visconti, Bidl. arch, com., 1879, pp. 197, 212). There is a
stamp (No. 1440, a) in which the name of the consul balbin
has been changed into that of brttio (Brittio) so imperfectly
that both can be read at the same time. In another (No. 68, d)
the letter s in the name ravsi, omitted by the engraver of the

seal, has been added so, t-ravi. This expedient shows that the
missing letter coul<l not have been wedged into its proper place.
We must discredit, however, the idea that movable types were
not known to the ancients. Albert Dumont (Inscriptions ccra-
miques de Grece, pp. 40 and -V.)')) brings strong evidence in favor
of it; and A. iNIilchhoefer (Ann. Inst., 1879, p. 90) has traced the
use of sucli types in an Etruscan sarcophagus.

The great manufacturing centre of Roman bricks was the dis-
trict between the via? Triumphalis, Cornelia, and the two Aurelife,
now called the Monti della Creta, which includes the southern
slojjes of the Vatican ridge and the northern of the Janiculum.
Here also, as at Pozzo Pantaleo, the traces of the work of man
are simply gigantic. The valleys del Gelsomino, delle Fornaci,
del Vicolo delle Cave, della Balduina, and a section of the Val
d' Inferno, are not the work of nature, but the result of excava-
tions for " creta figulina," which began 2300 years ago, and have
never been interrupted since. A walk through the Monti della
Creta will teach the student many interesting things. The best
point of observation is a bluff between the Vicolo della Cave and

42 GENERAL INFORMATION

the Vicolo del Gelsomino, marked with the word " Ruderi " and
with the altitude of 75 metres, in the military map of the suburbs.
The bluff rises o7 metres above the floor of the biick-kilns of the
Gelsomino.

There were other important establishments in the plains of
the Tiber (I'rati di Castello, Monti della Greta beyond 8. Paolo)
and of the Anio (Ponte Salario, Givitas Figlina), to whicli the
alluvial marls furnished the "materia prima."

lionuxn bricks were exported to all the shores of the Mediter-
ranean : they have been found in the Riviera, on the coasts of
Venetia, of Narbonensis, of Spain and Africa, and in the island
of Sardinia. One brick from Syria (No. 2415) and two fi'om the
gulf of Genoa (Nos. 2412, 241o) have been j^icked up in Rome,
l)ut they must have been transported liere incidentally by ships in
ballast.

The brick-making business must have been very remunerative,
if we judge from the rank and wealth of many personages who
had an interest in it. Many names of Emperors appear in brick-
stamps, and even more of Empresses and princesses of the Imperial
family. (See index to de Rossi's Iscrizioni doliari, pp. 525, 527.)

LiTERATUKE. — Gaetaiio Marini, Iscrizioni dulia rl jmbliciite dal comm. G.B.
de. Rosd, can annotazioni di Enrico Dressel. Rome, 1884. — Descemet, 3Iar-
ques de briqnes relatives a une ■partie de la (/ens Dumitla (Bibl. des Ecoles fr.
d'Atheiies et de Rome, vol. xv. p. 2) ; and Inscriptions doliaires. — C. Ludovico
Visconti, On Urick Stamps (in Parker's Archreology of Rome, vol. or part iv.
p. 41. London, 1870). — Heinrieh Dressel, Alcnne osservazioni intorno ai Ixdli
dei mattoni urbaul (in Bull. Inst., 1885, p. 98). — Untersuchun<ien iibcr die
Kronoloijie der Zier/elstempel, 188(i. — Corpus Inscriptioniim Latinarum,,yol.
XV. 1. Berlin, 1891. — Gio. Battista Liigari, Sopra /' etcc di alcuni bolli di
fijuline (in Bull. arch, com., 18'J5, p. (10).

XII. Makbles. — It would not be consistent with the spirit of
this present work to enter, even superficially, on the question of
Roman marbles. From the topographical point of view (marble
wharves, warehouses, and sheds, places of sale, offices of adminis-
tration, artists' studios, and stonecutters' shops) it will be illus-
trated in Book IV. § vii. I refer the reader, in the mean time, to
the following standard works : —

Faustino Corsi, Delle pietre nntlche, M cd., Rome, 1845. — The Rev. H. W.
Pullen, J fandbook of Ancient Roman Marbles, Londim, Murra}', 1894. — Luigi
Brnzza, Iscrizioni dei marmi (in Annal. Inst., 1870, p. 106).

The perusal of these three volumes must go hand in hand
with the study of the marbles which they describe, so as to enable
the student to tell them apart. For this jiurpose sjilendid coUec-

.)fARBLES 43

tions have been placed at our disposal : one at Oxford, whicli
numbers 1000 tablets; one in the geological museum in Jermyn
Street, London ; a third in the University of the Sapienza in
Rome, consisting of (JOO large and about 1000 smaller slabs. The
best of all is the set bequeathed by Baron Ravenstein to the mu-
seum of the Porte de Hal, Brussels. It contains 76i specimens,
which were arranged and catalogued by Tommaso and Francesco
Belli. The variety and richness of Roman marbles may be
estimated from the fact that there are 4:5 qualities of bigio, and
151 of alabaster. The rarest marbles known are the breccia
d' Egitto, the breccia di Villa Adriana and the breccia di Villa
Casali. There are specimens of these exhibited in the first hall of
tlie jSIuseo ISIunicipale al Celio. The churches of S. INIaria in
Aracd'li, della Minerva, and della Vittoria, and tlie Capella Bor-
gliesiana in 8. Maria jNIaggiore, are noted for their wealth in rare
marl lies.

XIII. Metiious of Constkuction. — For this suliject also 1
must refer the student to the works quoted on page :5S. Tlie Ro-
mans have built in opus quadratuin, incertiim, rcticulaluin, htteritiuiii,
lateritio-reticulatum, and in concrete. An excellent set of plioto-
tyjies explaining these various styles of masonry can be found in
vol. i. part ii. of Parker's " Archaeology of Rome," Oxford, London,
1874 : The Historical Comtrurtion of Walls.

The following rules are useful to the student for determining the
age of a Roman building : : —

L In Rome there are no traces of the so-called Pelasgic or
polygonal style of masonry. i The oldest remains, like tlie walls
of the Palatine and of the Capitol, are built in ojyus fjuadratum
in the Etruscan style, with the blocks of tufa placed lengthwise
in one tier and crosswise in the next. This ride was followed
tlirough the Republican period. I know of very few exceptions :
one is the great wall upon which the Constantinian basilica of S.
Clement is biult, where the blocks are all placed lengthwise.

In Imperial times the exception becomes the rule. The in-
closure walls of the Forum Angustum, of the Forum Transi-
torium, etc., and the cella> of many temples, show the blocks
placed in one direction only.

The opus (piadratum was given up (except in case of restora-
tions) in the third century after Christ, and imitations in plaster
were substituted for it. The facade of the Senate-house, rebuilt by

1 Rodolfii Fonteauive, Avanzi detii Cidopici ndla provincia di Roma. Rome,
Sciolla, 1887.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Diocletian, the Thei-mas of Constantine, and liis Basilica Nova,
the Thermaii of Diocletian, and parts of the Sessorian palace, were
plastered in this style. (See plates, Nos. 2, 26, 30, etc., in Stefano
du Perac's " Vestigi dell' antichita di Roma " and " Atti Lincei,"
an. 1883, vol. xi. serie iii. pi. 3.)

2. The ojnis incertum, of which Fig. 17 gives a specimen from
the Porticus iEmilia, 176 b. c, marks a transition from the
polygonal to the reticulated work. The Romans must have im-

Fig. 17. —The Opus Incertum.

ported it from Tibur, where it was in great favor. Resides the
l\n-ticus ^^milia, tliere are (or were in 1872) other remains built in
this style under the cliff of the Viminal, opposite S. Vitale. Pho-
tograiths of them are given by Parker in " Archaeology of Rome,"
voL i. 1874, Construction of Walls, pi. vi. 2. The opus incertum
was given up about the time of Sulla, and replaced by the opus
reticiilatum, made of regular tufa prisms in imitation of network.
There are three kinds of opus reticulatiim : in the oldest the

METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION 45

prisms are small, and the intersecting lines of the network
slightly irregular ; it marks the infancy of the new style. A
specimen may be found on the Palatine, on the left-hand side of
the path which ascends from the foot of the Seal* Caci to the
Temple of Jupiter Propugnator.

In the second stage the prisms become larger, and the cross lines
of the network perfectly straight, while the angles of the walls are
strengthened with rectangular pieces of tufa resembling large
bricks. The house of Germ aniens on the Palatine is the best
specimen of this style, which seems to have lasted until the time
of Trajan.

The last period, from Trajan to the first Anton ines, marks a
decided improvement in the solidity of the work. The angles and
arches are built of bricks, and the wall itself is strengthened by
horizontal bands of the same material (Fig. 18). The netwoi-k.
therefore, does not cover the whole face of the wall, but is divided
into panels from four to five feet high. At the end of the second
century the opus reticulatiim was given up altogether. 1 have
never discovered what its advantages were. It did not contribute
certainly to the solidity of the building, and it demanded more
skill and time from the mason than the brickwork. In the last
place, its elegance and beauty were generally concealed by a coat-
ing of plaster. Yet builders and architects like Trajan and Ha-
drian preferred it to any other kind of masonry. The extensive
warehouses of Ostia, the substructures of the Tliermse Traianaj,
Hadrian's villa near Tibur, the inner harbor and docks at Porto,
and a hundred contemporary edifices, are built in this style. (See
Fig. 18, i>. 46.)

•3. Opus lateritium. — The fundamental rule for the chronology
of brick structures is this : the thinner the bed of cement be-
tween the layers of bricks, the older the structure. In other
words, in the opus lateritium of the golden age the bricks are so
close together that the line of cement is hardly visible ; while at
the end of the third century the layer of cement is even thicker
than the line of bricks. The rule is obviously subject to exce2>
tions, especially when the brick facing was destined to be seen
and not to be plastered over. In such cases we are apt to find
excellent specimens of brick " cortina," even in times of decadence.

The most perfect specimens of brickwork in Rome are some
portions of the Pra?torian camp (the Porta Decumana, Porta Princi-
palis Sinistra), the Amphitheatrum Castrense, and the Arcus Ne-
roniani on the Ca'lian. The decline in the stvle can be followed

GENERAL INFORMATION

almost year by year from the time of the Fhivians to that of
Constantiue. I suggest as representatives of periods, more than
years, the Domus Augustana for tlie time of Domitian ; the so-
called " baths of Titus " for the time of Trajan ; the Pantheon
and the spiral staircase of the Mausoleum for that of Hadrian ;
the Villa Quinctiliorum for that of Commodus ; the Thermaj An-
toninianae for that of Caracalla ; the substructures of the Temple
of the Sun in the Villa Colonna for that of Aurelian ; the Baths
of Diocletian, the Basilica Nova, the Senate-liouse, for the end of
the third century and the beginning of the fourth. These types
of construction are carefully illustrated in vol. i. of Parker's
" Archaeology of Rome."

mM^.

w^^m^^w^'

Fig. 18. — Tlie Opus Reticulatum.

I have said that when the brickwork was intended to remain
exposed to view, and not to be concealed l>y plaster, it is always
more perfect than we should exjiect from the general style pre-
vailing at the time.

The best period for ornamental brick-carving in three shades of
color — yellow, red, and brown — includes the second half of the
second century and the beginning of the thii'd. The tomb attri-
buted to Annia Regilla (Pagan and Christian Rome, p. 201), the
tombs of the Via Latina, the door of the Excubitorium Vigilum
at the ]\Ionte de' Fiori, Trastevere (Ancient Rome. p. 'JoO), the

AQUEDUCTS 47

door of the Catacombs of Pra?textatus, the temple at S. Urbano
alia Caifarella (Pagan and Christian Rome, p. 294) are the best
specimens of this kind of work.

There is another peculiarity of the opus laterilium wliicli may
help the student to determine the age of an edifice in doubtful
cases. The brick facing of a wall is sometimes interrupted by
parallel horizontal lines of tegulai bipedales of a different line,
from three to six feet apart. These lines appear for the first time,
I believe, in the Pantheon and in the spiral staircase of Hadrian's
tomb, and are most conspicuous in the buildings of the time of
Severus and Caracalla.

XIV. Aqueducts. — One of IIh- praises liestowed by Cicero on
the founder of the city is locum t'li(/it fonlihus ahunduntem, "he
selected a district very rich in springs." A glance at llie plan
(Fig. 1) will at once prove the accuracy of the statement. Twenty-
three springs have been described within the walls, several of
which are still in existence ; others have disappeared owing to the
increase of modern soil. " For four hundred and forty-one [442]
years," says Frontinus (i. 4), "the Romans contented themselves
with such water as they could get from the Tiber, from wells, and
from s]>rings. Some of these springs are still held in great venera-
tion on account of their health-restoring qualities, like the spring
of the Camcena;, that of Apollo, and that of Jutnrna."

Tiie springs of the Camrena' were just outside the I'orta Capeiia,
in the slope of the Cadian, behind tlie church of S. Cregorio, and
under the wall of the Villa Mattel. The remains of the tem])le
descrilied by Juvenal (Sat., iii. 11) were discovered and delineate<l
by Pin-o Ligorio about 35(>(>.

Nothing is known of the springs of Apollo. Tiiose of .lutiirna
are described at length in P>o()k IT. p. 125. The celebrated foun-
tain of Egeria remained visible in the lower grounds of tlie Vigna
P>etliiii (between the Via di S. Stefano Rotondo and the Via della
Ferratella) until 1882, when the vigna was buried under an em-
l)aidcnient 11 metres high; but although the nymphfeum itself
has disai)[:)eared, the waters still seem to find their way to another
fountain lower down the valley of P^geria. This graceful building
of the Renaissance stands in the grounds of the Villa Mattel (von
Hoffman), at the corner of the Via di Porta S. Sebastiano and
delle INIole di S. Sisto, and the water which inundates its lower
floor has some medicinal power. Another famous spring, that of
the Lupercal. has been identified with our Sorgente di S. Giorgio,

GENERAL INFORMATION

which bubbles \\\) in the very bed of the Cloaca Maxima, near
the church of that name. The identity is uncertain. The Tullia-
num still flows in the lower crypt of the prison of that name ; the
Aqua3 Fontinales in the Cortile di S. Felice, Salita della Dateria,
and in the house No. 2,5 Salita del Grillo ; the Aqua Damasiana
in the Cortile di S. Damaso of the Vatican palace, in the foun-
tain modeled by Algardi
by order of Innocent
X. (1649); the Aqua
Lancisiana in front of
the Palazzo Salviati alia
Lungara, where there is
a basin with three jets,
designed by Lancisi in
the time of Clement XI.
(1720).

The first aqueduct,
that of the Aqua Appia,
is the joint work of Ap-
pius Claudius Csecus and
C. Plautius Venox, cen-
sors in 312 B. c. The
first built the channel,
the second discovered
the sjirings 1153 metres
northeast of the sixth and seventh milestones of the Via Collatina.
They are still to be seen, much reduced in volume, at the bottom
of some stone quarries near the farmhouse of La Rustica. The
channel followed the Via Collatina, entered Rome ad Spem Vetcrcm
(Porta ]\Iaggiore), crossed the valley of the Piscina Publica (Via
di Porta S. Sebastiano) close to the Porta Capena, and ended on
the left bank of the Tiber at the foot of the Clivus Publicius (S.
Anna, Via della Salara) ; length of channel, 16,445 metres; vol-
ume of water discharged in twenty-four hours, 115,303 cubic me-
tres. The aqueduct of the Appia has been discovered thrice : by
Fabretti, in the Vigna Santoro at the corner of the Via di Porta S.
Paolo and the Vicolo di S. Balbina (an. 1607) ; by Parker in 1867,
in the tufa quarries of S. Saba ; and by myself in 1888, under the
remains of the palace of Annia Cornuficia Faustina in the Vigna
Maciocohi, Via di Porta S. Paolo. It differs in shape from all
other Roman aqueducts, as shown in Fig. 20.

Anio vetus. — The second aqueduct was begun in 272 b. c. by

Fig. 20. — The Channel of the Aqua Appia under
the Aventine.

AQUEDUCTS 49

Manius Curius Dentatus, censor, and finished three yeai's later by
Fulvius Flaccus. The water was taken from the river Anio 850
metres above S. Cosimato, on the road from Tivoli to Arsoli
(Valeria). The course of the channel can be traced as far as
(iallicano ; from Gallicano to Rome it is uncertain. It entered the
city ad Spem A'eterem, a little to the right of the Porta ^laggiore,
where Piranesi, Xil)by, and myself have seen and delineated the
I'emains of the suJistructio supra terrain passuum ccrxi men-
tioned by Frontinus (i. 0).^ From the Porta Maggiore to the Arch
of (iallienus (Porta Esquilina) the aqueduct can be followed step
by step, having been laid bare at least twenty times during the
construction of the railway station and of the Esquiline qiuirter.
Length of channel, 63,704 metres ; volume of water discharged
in twenty-four hours, 277,806 cubic metres. The Anio Vetus was
set apart for the irrigating of gardens and for the flushing of drains.

Marc'ia. — Tn 144 u. c. tlie Senate, considering that the increase
of the population had diminished the rate of distriltution of water
(from 530 to 430 litres i)er head), detenuined that the old aipie-
ducts of the Appia and tlie Anio should be repaired, and a new one
built; the appropriation for both works being 8,000,000 sesterces,
or 1,760,000 lire.

The execution of the scheme was intrusted to Q. Marcius Rex.
He selected a group of sjirings at the foot of the Monte della
Prugna, in the territoiy of Arsoli, 4437 metres to the right of the
thirty-sixth milestone of the Via Valeria ; and after many years
of untiring efforts he succeeded in making a display of tlie water
on the highest platform of the Capitol. Agrippa restored the
aqueduct in 33 b. c. ; Augustus doubled the volume of the water
in 5 B. c. by the addition of the Aqua Augusta ; in a. d. 79
Titus rivom aqua' Marcue vetustate dilapsiim refecit et aquam qiue
in vsu esse desierat reduxit (Corpus Inscriptionum, vi. 1246) ; in
lf(6 Septimius Severus brought in a new supply for the use of his
Thermaj Severiana^ ; in 212-213 Caracalla aquam Marciam variis
l-asihus im/)edita7n, purgato fonte, excisis et perfnratis )nnntil)us,
adquisifo fonte novo Antonlniano, in urhem perdurendam curarit
(ibid. 1245), and built a branch aqueduct, four miles long, for tlie
use of his baths ; in 305-306 Diocletian did the same thing for his
great thermae ; and, finally, Arcadius and Honorius devoted to the
restoration of the aqueduct the money seized from Count Gildo,
the African rebel.

1 Piranesi, Antichita, vol. i. pi. 10. — Nibby, Komn anfica, vol. i. p. 339. —
LaiU'iaiii, AcqutJutti. \\. 50, jil. iv. Ulc. 7.

GENERAL INFORM A TI ON

The Marcia followed the right bank of the Anio as far as S.
Cosimato, and the left as far as Tivoli, where it turns round the
slope of the Monte Ripoli towards S. Gericomio and Gallicano.
Here begins a line of viaducts and bridges, the most magnificent
of any that can be found in the whole district of Rome. The
course of the Marcia (and of her three companions, Anio Vetus,
Claudia, and Anio Novus) being pei'pendicular to that of the
valleys by which this part of the land is thickly furrowed, and
their level running halfway between the ihahref/ and the summit
of the intervening ridges, the engineers were obliged to alternate
bridges and tunnels, some of which ai'e still perfect.

A visit to these beautiful highlands will prove most satisfactory

Fig. 21. — Ponte Lupo.

to the student. It can be made in a day, from the station of
Zagarolo on the Naples line, thence by diligence to Gallicano, and
on foot (guide necessary) to the ruins. The bridges are seven in
number.

Ponte Lvpo, in the Valle dell' Acqua Rossa, for the transit of
four waters, Marcia, Anio Vetus, Anio Novus, and Claudia, be-
sides a carriage-way and a bridle-path. Originally it was built
for the Anio Vetus alone, and its dimensions were 11.20 metres in
heisht, 81.10 metres in length, 2.75 metres in thickness. After

AQUEDUCTS 51

the addition of the JNIarcia, side by side and above it, the struc-
ture became 16.0(1 metres high, 88.00 metres long, 12 metres thick.
Lastly, after the addition of the Claudia and Anio Novus, it be-
came 32 metres high, 155 metres long, 1-4 metres thick, without
counting the buttresses, which are clearly visible in the illustra-
tion opposite (Fig. 21). All ages, all styles of masonry are
represented at Ponte Lupo, and in the four tunnels whicli con-
verge towards it or radiate from it.

Pond deir Inferno in the Valle dell' Inferno, for the transit of
the Claudia and of the Anio Novus ; and

Ponti (lelle Forme Rotte, for the same, in the Valle del Fosso di
S. Gregorio.

Ponte (li S. Pietro, in the Valle delle Forme Rotte, for the
transit of the Aijua Marcia.

Ponte (li S. Giovanni, in the same valley, for the transit of the
Anio Vetus. The bridge was rebuilt by Augustus in reticulated
work, ami again repaired in brickwork by one of the late Emper-
ors (first arch on the left).

From (iallicano to the sixth milestone of the Via Latina tlie
Marcia runs underground; from the sixth milestone to the Porta
Maggiore, I'orta S. Lorenzo, and to the present railway station it
was borne on almost triumphal arcades, built of tufa with mould-
ings of travertine. The same arcades were afterwards used to
carry the Aqua Tepula and the Julia. The following photograph
gives the section of the channel at a point where it emerges from
the ground in the farm of Roma Vecchia. A. The channel of
the Marcia. B. Renuiins of that of the Tepula above it. C. A
buttress, probably of the time of Hadrian. D. Another, probably
of the time of Severus. E. The channel of the Acqua Felice,
built by Sixtus V. FF'. The arcades of the Claudia and of the
Anio Xovus.

The afjueduct reaches Rome at the Porta ISIaggiore (the meet-
ing-point of ten waters, Appia, Appia Augusta, Anio Vetus,
Mai-cia, Tepula, Julia, Claudia, Anio Novus, Alexandrina, Felice),
and follows the line of the walls of Am-elian as far as the Porta
S. Lorenzo. The course beyond this gate is so complicated that I
think it well to refer the student to sheets xvii. and xviii. of the
"Forma L'rbis," in which all particulars are carefully mapped,
rather than describe it here.

Aqua Tepula — Aqua Julia. — The veins, so named from
their almost tepid temperature of 17° Cent., and now called Sor-
genti deir Acqua Preziosa, were collected at the foot of the Alban

GENERAL IN FORM A TI ON

hills (Valle Marciaiiii) in 125 b. c. by the censors Cn. Servilius
Ca?pio and L. Cassius Longinus. For ninety-two years the Tepula
reached Rome by its own channel ; but in 33 b. c. Agrippa, after
he had collected the springs of the Aqua elulia — higher up the
same valley at a place now called '* II Fontanile degli Squarcia-
relli di Grottaferrata," which were much colder and purer, and
double in volume — determined to mix the two and obtain a corn-

Fig. 22. — The Aqueducts at Roma Vecchia.

jionnd water superior in quality to the Tejiula, though slightly in-
ferior to the Julia. The Julia was admitted accordingly into the
channel of the Tepula at tlie tenth milestone of the Via Latina,
and the amalgamation allowed to proceed for the space of four

A QUE DUCTS 53

miles. At the sixth milestone the compound water was again di-
vided in two conduits, proportioned to the volume of the springs
(400 quinaria; for the Tepula, and 12()<3 for the Julia). The tem-
perature of the Tepula being 17° Cent., that of the Julia 10°, and
tlieir volumes 1 : 8, the mixture must have marked at the Piscina
a temperature of about 12°, which is the best for drinking pur-
poses. Length of channel for the Tepula, 17,74.5 metres ; for the
Julia, 22,853 metres. Volume of the first, 28,115 cubic metres in
twenty-four hours ; of the second, 76,195, Both were borne on
the same arches which carried the Marcia.

Aqua Virgo. — The springs, located at the eighth milestone of
the Via Latina, above the farmhouse of Salone in the Val del
Ponte di Nona, were drawn into a canal by Agrippa, and reached
tiie city on June 9, 19 h. c. Length of channel, 20,(397 metres;
volume in twenty-four hours, 158,203 cubic metres.

Aqua Alsietina. — "1 cannot conceive," says Frontinus (i. 11),
" why such a wise prince as Augustus should have brought to
Rome such a discredit al)le and unwholesome water as the Alsie-
tina, unless it was for the use of the naumachia " (an oval pond
531 metres long, 354 metres wide, for naval sliam fights). It was
destined afterwards for the irrigation of the Transtiberine or-
chards. Length of channel, 32,848 metres ; volume, 24,767 cubic
metres per day. (See Notizie degli Scavi, 1887, p. 182.)

Aqua Claudia. — None of the Roman aqueducts are eulo-
gized by Frontinus like tlie Claudian. lie calls it " opus magni-
ficentissiine consummatum ; " and after demonstrating in more
than one way that the volume of the springs collected by Claudius
amounted to 4607 quinari;r, he says that there was a reserve of
1()00 always ready.

The works, begun liy Caligida in a. d. 38, lasted fourteen years,
the water having reached Rome only on Augu.st 1, 52 (the birth-
day of Claudius). The course of the aqueduct was first around
the slopes of the Monte Ripoli. like that of the ]\rarcia and of the
Anio Vetus : Domitian shortened it by several miles by boring a
tunnel 4950 metres long through the Monte Affliano. (See An-
cient Rome, p. 63.) Lengtli of channel, 68,750 metres, of which
15,000 on arches; volume per day, 209,252 cubic metres. The
Claudia was used for the Imperial table : a branch aqueduct, 2000
metres long, left the main cliannel ad Spem A^terem (Porta Mag-
giore), and following the line of the Via Ca'limontana (Villa
Wolkonsky), of the Campus Ca'limontanus (Lateran), and of the
street now called di S. Stefano Rotondo, reached the temple of

54 GENERAL INFORMATION

Claudius l)y the church of SS. Giovauni e ruolo, and the Imperial
palace by tlie churcli of S. Bouaventura. (See Boolv 11. § xxv.)

Anio Novus. — The Aiiio Novus, like the Vetus, was at first
derived from the river of the same name at the forty-second mile-
stone of the road to Subiaco, great precautions being taken for
purifying the water by means of a piscina limaria. The works
were begun by Caligula in a. d. 38, and completed by Claudius on
August 1, 52, on a most magnificent scale, some of the arches
reaching the height of thirty-two metres above ground ; and there
were eight miles of them. Yet, in spite of the purifying reser-
voir, and of the clear springs of the Rivus Herculaneus (Fosso di
Fioggio), which had been mixed with the water from the river, the
Anio Novus was hardly ever drinkable. Whenever a shower fell
on the Simbruine mountains, the water would get troubled and
saturated with mud and carbonate of lime. Trajan improved its
condition by carrying the head of the a(pieduct higher up tlie
valley, where Nero had created three artificial lakes for the adorn-
ment of his Villa Sublacensis. These lakes served more efficiently
as piscinm limarkE, or " purgatories," than the artificial basin of
Caligula, nine miles below. The Anio Novus reached Rome in its
own channel after a course of 86,964 metres, but for the last
seven miles it ran on the same arches with the Aqua Claudia.
The Anio Novus was the largest of all Roman aqueducts, dis-
charging nearly three hundred thousand cubic metres per day.

There are two places in the suburbs of Rome where these
marvelous arches of the Claudia and Anio Novus can be seen to
advantage : one is the Torre Fiscale, three miles outside the Porta
S. Giovanni on the Albano road (to be reached also from the
Tavolato station, on the upper Albano railway) ; tlie other is the
Vicolo del Mandrione, which leaves the Labicana one mile outside
the Porta Maggiore and falls into the Tusculana at the place
called Porta Furba. A walk through the Vicolo del INIandrione
will make the student more familiar with the aqueducts of
ancient Rome, their structure and management, their respective
size and importance, than many books written on the subject.
He must remember that the higher of the two lines of arches
carried the Claudia and the Anio Novus, the lower cai'ried the
Marcia, Tepula, and Julia. The ugly channel of the Acqua Felice
takes advantage of the remains of both ; the Alexaudrina, Anio
Vetus, and Appia run underground (see Fig. 23).

Aqua Traiana. — A rule was strictly followed under the Em-
pire, that no one should be allowed to build and open tlierni;>3 for

AQUEDUCTS 55

l>nl)Iic use unless a sj)ecial supply of water was secured at the same

time. The Aqua A'irgo served for Agrippa's thermae and Euripus,
the Alsietina for the naumachia of Augustus ; Titus repaired and

56 GENERAL INFORMATION

increased the volume of the Marcia for the use of his baths, and
so did Severus, Caracalla, and Diocletian. The construction of
the Thermse Alexandrinse is contemporary with the canalization
of the Aqua Alexandrina, etc. That of the Aqua Traiana seems
to be also connected with the construction of the Thermal Surianse,
which Trajan had built on the table-land of the Aventine in honor
of his friend and supporter Licinius Sura. An inscription dis-
covered in 1830 at la Conetta, on tlie Bracciano road (Corpus In-
scriptionum, vi. 1260), and the medal (Cohen, Imper., ii. 49, n.
305) give the date of a. d. 109 for the completion of the aqueduct.
Its sources were on the western shore of the Lago di Bracciano,
along the chain of hills between Oriolo and Bassano. The va-
rious branches met at a central reservoir near Vicarello, where the
true aqueduct begins. It was 57,000 metres long, and discharged
118,127 cubic metres per day.

The Aqua Paola of the present day is not at all so good as the
Traiana, since Paul V., the restorer of the aqueduct, mixed up the
good springs with the inferior water of the lake.

The last water brought into Imperial Rome is the Aqua Alex-
ANDKiNA. Its springs, at the foot of Monte Falcone, on the Via
Prsenestina, were collected in 226 by Severus Alexander, for the
use of his baths. The aqueduct, most minutely described by
Fabretti (De Aquis, dissert, i.), was about 22 kilometres long, and
increased the daily supply of the city by 21,632 cubic metres.
Its most conspicuous remains are to be seen in the Valle di Acqua
Bollicante (Via Labicana).

The Roman waters were not equally good. In the scale of
perfection the Marcia and the Claudia occupy the first place, the
Virgo comes next, followed by the Appia, Julia, Traiana, Anio
Nevus, Alexandrina, Tepula, Anio Vetus, and Alsietina.

The Traiana reached Rome at the considerable height of 71.16
metres above the sea, the Anio Novus at 70.40, the Claudia at
67.40, the Julia at 63.73, the Tepxda at 60.63, the Marcia at 58.63,
the Anio Vetus at 48, the Alexandrina at about 43, the Virgo at
20, the Appia at 20 (?), the Alsietina, " omnium humilior," at 16.50.

At the time of Constantine there were in Rome 11 great
thermge, 926 public baths, 1212 public fountains, 247 reservoirs,
a "stagnum Agrippce" without speaking of private houses, of
public and private gardens, of docks and warehouses, each well
provided with water.

Some of the fountains were of monumental character, and rich
in works of art. Agrippa, while sedile, decorated those existing

AQUEDUCTS 57

at the time with tliree hundred marble and bronze statues and
four hundred columns. We know of one work of art only, — an
" <#i'«<^-'* Hydne " which he placed on the Servilian fountain " a<l
Serviliam lacu7n." The fountains of Prometheus, of the Shep-
iierds, of Orpheus, of Ganymede, of the Four Fish (Scari), of the
Tliree Masks, etc., must have been so named from the statues and
marbles with which they were decorated.

One only of the great fountains has escaped destruction, that
popularly called " I Trofei di iNlario," in the Piazza Yittorio Em-
manuele on the Esquiline. Its ancient name is not known for
certain : Lenormant has suggested that of Nymplniium Alexandri ;
I prefer that of Lacus Orphei. Its mediajval name was Cimbrum
INIarii, a recollection of tlie monument erected here in memory of
the victory of the Campi Raudii ; while in the early Renaissance
it was called " Le Oche Armate." The trophies which adorned it
were removed to the Piazza del Campidoglio under Sixtus V.

Gio. Battista Piranesi, II Castello fleW Acqua Giulut ; and Tro/'ei di
Ottnviano Augusto. Rome : K. Calcografia. — Francois Lenormant, Jlemoire
mr la veritable designntiun du monuinvnt connu sous It nom de Trophees de
Marius. (R^vue Numism., 1840.) — Rodolfo Lanciaiii, / coinentarii di Fron-
tino, p. 173.

Supposing the inhabitants of Rome to have numbered, suburbs
included, one million, there was a daily water supply of IHOO
litres per head. In modern Rome, for a population of half a
million, there are about 760 litres per head.

The volume of water which supplied Rome may be estimated
by comparison with the Tiber, which discharges only 1,296,000
cubic metres per day, while the old aqueducts carried not less
than 1,747,311 cubic metres.

LiTERATUKK. — Raphael Fabretti, Be aqnis et ar/ucedurtilms veteris Romce,
2d-ed. Rome, 1788. — Alberto Cassio, Corso delle acque antiche. Rome,
1757-59. — Carlo Fea, Storia delle acque di Roma. — John Henry Parker, The
Aqueducts of Ancient Rome. Oxford, London, 1876. — Alessandro Bettoehi,
Le acque e gli acquedotti di Roma antica e moderna. (Monografia della citta
di Roma, voL ii. ch. xix. 1881.) — Rodolfo Lanciani, / comentarii di Frontino
intovno le acque e gli ncquedoUi. Rome, Salviucci, 1880.

An interesting collection of objects connected with the suppl}- and distribu-
tion of water in ancient Rome is exhibited in Hall No. VI. of the Museo
Municipale al Celio.

The following table concerning the Roman aqueducts may be
useful to the student : —

GENERAL INFORMATION

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THE WALLS 59

XV. MuRi Urbis (the Walls). — Rome has been fortified
seven times, witli seven lines of walls : by the first King, by
Servins Tullius, by Aurelian, by Honorius, by Leo IV., by Urban
VIII., and by the Italian government.

The literature on this point of Roman history and topography
is very copious. The works in which the subject is treated from
a general [)oint of view are —

Antonio Niljby, Lt mura di Roma, diser/nate da Sir IV. Gell. 1820. — Ste-
fano Pialt;, .Six Memoirs, rei)rinted from the Atti dtlla jiont. Accadtmia rom.
d' Archevlijijiu. 18'20-;J.5. — Adolf Becker, Dv, Jiomw veteris muris u/i/iie portis.
I^eipsic, 1842. — Kodolfo J^anciani, Lt mnra e la parte di Servio (in Annal. Inst.,
1871, p. 40) ; and Bull. arch, com., 187(i, pp.24, 121 (1888, p. 12). — Heinrieh
.Jordan, Topoiinijihic, vol. i. p. 200, Desclireilinng der .servianisclien Maner ;
]p. .'}4(), die aureliauisclie Mauer. — C'esare (iuareiigiii, Lt mura di Roma.
Konie, 1882.

XVr. MuRUS RoMULi (Walls of the Palatine). It is probable
that the Alban colonists of the " hill of Pales," protected by
marshes and cliffs, contented themselves with raising a palisade
and cutting a ditch at the only weak point of their natural for-
tress, viz. across the neck of the Velia. After coming in contact
with their more advanced neighbors, like the inhabitants of the
turrif/era; Antemnd', they thought it more expedient to follow
tlieir exami>le, and wall in and fortify their village, which was at
the same time the fold of their caf tie.

The text most freijuently quoted in reference to the IVIurus
Romuli is that of Tacitus (Ann., xii. 24), according to which the
furrow ploughed by the hero — the sulcus primiyeiiius — started
from a })oiut in the Forum Boarium, marked in later times by the
bronze Bidl of INIyron ; and followed the valley between the Palatine
and the Aventine as far as the altar of Consus, the valley between
the Palatine and the Ca;lian as far as the Curiae Veteres, the east
slope of the hill as far as the Sacellum Larum. The same historian
says that the Ara ISIaxima of Hercules was included within the fur-
row, and Dionysius states that Vesta's temple was outside it. The
furrow followed the foot of the cliffs or slopes of the Palatine, its
course being marked with stone cippi. Others affirm that the city
of Romulus was square (jerpaywvos — Ronui (.^uadrata). The truth
is that neither the walls nor the ))omerium of Romulus can be said
to make a square; that a line drawn from l)eyond the Ara Maxima
to the Ara Consi cannot be said to go " along the foot of the
cliffs of the Palatine" {per Ima mantis Palatini); that the valley
in those days was covered with water, deep enough to be navi-

60 GENERAL INFORMATION

gated by canoes, so that neither a furrow could be ploughed
through it, nor stone cippi set up to mark the line of the furrow.
Moreover, the same marshes extended on the southeast side as far
as the Curiaj Ve teres, on the northwest as far as the Temple of
Vesta ; and the shape of the Palatine walls was rather trapezoid,
like that of a terramara of the valley of the Po, than square like
an Etruscan templum ; while, lastly, the name of Roma Quadrata
did not belong to the city on the hill, but to the altar described in
" Pagan and Christian Rome," p. 70, which stood in front of the
Temple of Apollo.

There is manifestly a chronological error in speaking of places
and things, not as they were in the earliest days of Rome, but as
they appeared after the draining of the marshes. A confusion is
also to be observed in ancient and modern writers with regard to
the line of the walls and the line of the pomerium marked by
stone cippi. The two are almost independent, and wide apart.
The existing remains of the walls, at the west corner of the hill,
are 220 metres distant from the site of the Ara Maxima, which
was itself within the pomerium. The walls of Romulus have
been discovered in six places, marked A, B, C, D, E, F in the
annexed map. They will be described in Book II. § viii.

XVII. Other Walls of the Kingly Period. — Although
we find in classic texts mention of what may have been fortifica-
tions, independent of those on the Palatine, — like the Murus Ter-
reus Carinarum, the Capitolium Vetus, and the arx or citadel on
the Aracoeli summit of the Capitoline hill, — yet there is but one
existing relic which can possibly be considered as such : a frag-
ment of a wall in a garden, Via dell' Arco di Settimio, No. 1. It
is identical in material and style of masonry with the walls of the
Palatine.

Literature. — Stefano Piale, Del secondo recinfo di Romafatto da Numa,
e delh af/f/wnte def/li altrt re. Rome, 183.3. — Rodolfo LaiU'iani, Annali Imti-
ttito, I9,i\, p. 42. — Arthur Scheiner, Aua Roms Frnhezeit. (Mittheil., 1895, p.
160.)

XVIII. The Walls of Servius Tullius. — In the eulogy
of Bartolomeo Borghesi the late Comm. de Rossi remarks justly
that we know more on some points of Roman history, institutions,
religion, etc., than the ancients did. The same thing may be re-
peated as regards some points of Roman topography. Dionysius,
for instance, says that the walls of Servius Tidlius had become
5v(T(vpfTot 1 in tlie Augustan age, on account of the structures of

1 Difficult t(i trace.

THE WALLS OF SERVIUS TULLIUS

'//jarlLi/, /■'■■■

;/./;//A-77'>/^

Fig. 25.

every descrii^tion, public and private, which had been built
against, across, and above them. Owing to discoveries made since
1860 we can trace the line of the Servian walls and of the agger,
describe its structure, and locate

its gates more exactly than Dio- SECTION OF WALLS

nysius could have done.

The walls run against the face
of the cliffs (of the Capitoline,
(iuirinal, Oppian, Ca^lian, and
Aventine) at two thirds of their
height above the plain, and cross
the intervening vallej's at their
narrowest point.

They are built of blocks of
tufa, exactly 2 feet high (0.59
metre), placed alternately
lengthwise and crosswise, the
tufa being of an inferior quality
and yellowish gray in color.
The thickness of the wall varies from 2 to Z\ metres ; the maxi-
mum height yet discovered is 12.98 metres (Vigna Torlonia, Aven-
tine, Fig. 29). The blocks are not cemented, at least not in the
original structure. I have only once found traces of lime, in a
joint of one of the buttresses (corner of Via Volturno and Gaeta) ;
but, as a rule, the use of cohesive substances seems to have l)een
unknown to or despised by the engineers of Servius. The blocks
which form the face of the wall are well squared, and fit into
each other so that the joints are rendered almost invisible, but
they are irregularly cut inside. On the Aventine, however, and
especially in the space between the church of S. Saba and that of
II Priorato di Malta, the walls, instead of resting against the live
rock of the cliffs or the earth of the slopes, have an inside lin-
ing of concrete, the thickness of which equals or exceeds that of
the opus quadratum itself. This part of the fortifications is not
original, but seems to have been rebuilt or strengthened by
Camillus.

Across the valleys or tablelands the system of defense varies
altogether. There is a ditch, and an embankment made with the
earth excavated from the ditch. Tlie embankment is supported
on the outer side by a strong wall, fortified with buttresses, while
on the inner side it slopes down at an incline of 35° or 40°.
Sometimes there is a .second supporting wall on the' inner side,

GENERAL INFORMATION

weaker and much lower than the outer one. Two roads run par-
allel with the fortification, one at the foot of the inner wall, one
on the outer edge of the ditch. This system of defense was
called an agger.

Topographical books state that in the circuit of tlie Servian
city there was but one agger, between the Colline and the Esqui-
line gates ; but recent discoveries prove that all weak points of the
circuit were fortified in that way. We have found the agger in
the higher part of the Esquiline, near tiie Palazzo Field, Via
Merulana ; on the Smaller Aventine, near S. Saba ; and on the Quiri-
nal, by the Piazza di Magnanapoli, etc. Yet there is no denying
that the one between the Colline and Esquiline gates, for strength,
size, elevation, and length, is the agger juor excellence, from which
a street (subager) and a promenade {nunc licet aggere in aprico
spatiari) were named in classic times, and a whole district (Mons
Superagius) in the Middle Ages.

I shall point out to the reader now which of the remains of this

SECTION OF AGGER

Fig. 2C.

venerable fortification deserve a visit, and which are the sites of
its historical gates. (See map of Walls.) First, as to the river-
front, Livy (ii. 10) and Dionysius (v. 23) distinctly as.sert that the
bank was unprotected, because the river itself, with its wide bed
and swift current, was considered to afford a sufficient protection.
Yet there is no portion of the whole circuit of the Servian city at
which the fortifications are more evident or better preserved than
at the river-front. I made designs of every fragment of them
before the construction of the modern quays, and I do not think
there is a break of 50 metres between the two extreme points
(marked approximately by the Pons Fabricius and the Pons Sub-

THE WALLS OF SERVIUS TULLIUS 63

licius). The construction is the same everywhere : a foundation-
wall about 2 metres high above low-water mark, forming a step
or a landing 3 metres wide, and a wall 6 metres high sujjporting
the bank. I have found traces of cement in the upper layers of
stones, as well as traces of an inner lining of concrete. Both may
l>ertain to later restorations.

FORUM nOARIUM

Fip. 27.

The walls left the river halfway between the clinrclies of S.
Maria Egiziaca and S. Nicola in Carcere, and readied the rocks of
the Capitol at the Via della Bufola. Three gates opened in this
short tract : the Fluinentana by the river (Via della Fiumara,
destroyed 1882), the Triumphalis (Via della Bocca della Veritk),
and the Carmentalis (Via delhi Bufola). Consult —

Adolf Becker, De niurl.% p. 81. — Eniil Braun, ^foniiment. InM., 1854, p. 78,
tav. X. — Alessandvo Donati, De urbe Rama, p. 7!t.

The Capitoline was strongly fortified on the side facing the
Campus Martins. Remains of the wall can be seen on the edge of
the rock which supports the Caffarelli palace (I) ; on the ascent to
the Piazza del Campidoglio, called " La salitadelle tre Pile " (II) ;
and in the substructures of the monument to Victor Emmanuel
(III). They intersected the Via di IMarforio between Nos. Sl'^
and 8P, where the Porta Ratumena must 1)e located. The direc-
tion of the Via Flaminia, which issued from this gate, is marked
by the tomb of C. Poplicius Bibulus on one side, and the so-called
tomb of the Claudii on the other.

From the Porta Ratumena to tlie Porta Foiitinalis, under the
Palazzo Antonelli, Piazza Magnanapoli, the walls must have been
destroyed by Trajan when he cut away the sjwr of the Quirinal
to make room for his forum. The Porta Fontinalis is the only
one left standing in the whole circuit (IV). Other remains are

64 GENERAL INFORMATION

to be seen in the beautiful Villa Colonna (V), upon which rest
those of the Temple of the Sun ; others under the Villa Spithoever,
Via delle Finanze (VI). Two gates opened in this tract : the
Sanqvialis, the approximate site of which is shown by the tomb
of the Sempronii, discovered in 1866 near the top of the Salita
della Dataria ; and the Porta Salutaris, under the Palazzo Craw-
shay, Via delle Quattro Fontane. The agger began at the junc-
tion of the Via di Porta Salaria with the Via venti Settembre,
crossed the Treasury buildings, the Via Volturno, the railway
station, the Piazza Fanti, the Via Carlo Alberto, and ended near
the conservatory of the gardens of Msecenas in the Via Merulana.
It was almost intact before the construction of the new quarters
and of the railway station ; now thex'e are scanty remains to be
seen (VII) in the Piazza del Maccao ; in the goods station. Via di
Porta S. Lorenzo (VIII) ; in the gardens of the Acquario Romano
(IX) ; and in the Via Carlo Alberto (X). The Porta Collina, dis-
covered in 1873 at the junction of the Via Goito and the Via venti
Settembre, was destroyed for the erection of the northeast pavilion
of the Treasury buildings. (See map in " Ancient Rome," p. 14.5.)
Traces of the Porta Viminalis are visible in the goods station,
while the Porta Esquilina is represented by the ai"ch of Gallienus,
Via di S. Vito.

The annexed cut (Fig. 28) i-epresents an excavation made in 1877
at the foot of the agger to determine the breadth and depth of the
great ditch. It seems that when the agger itself was transformed
into a public walk, the ditch was filled up, and turned into build-
ing lots. Traces of a private house can be seen at the bottom of
the trench.

Beyond the last fragment visible in the Via Merulana (XI) we
lose sight of the fortifications, although their course and the site
of the gates Querquetulana, Caelimontana, and a third near the
Piazza della Navicella, can be distinctly traced from discoveries
made in times gone by.

The famous Porta Capena, which marks the beginning of the
Appian Way, seems to have been discovered twice : by Orazio
Orlandi in the latter part of last century ; and by Mr. J. H. Parker
in 1867, in the slope of the C?eliau, behind the apse of S. Gregorio.
Parker gives a view of his excavation in Plate xviii. of the " Aque-
ducts of Ancient Rome " (London, Murray, 1876). The site of the
gate can be determined to-day by means of a remarkable fragment
of the walls (XII) visible in the wine-cellar of the Osteria della
Porta Capena, in the gardens of S. Gregorio, Via di Porta S.
Sebastiano, No. 1.

THE WALLS OF SERVIUS TULLIUS 65

On the other side of the valley the walls appear again, in front
and under the old abbey of S. Balbina, now a house of refuse for

,j„— 1,

K-'

Wt'

."^^^'

■S^v^

\ ,

,jrd^

'%!

Fig. 28. —The Ditch of the Agger of Servius.

women (XIII) ; at a corner of the Via di S. Saba and the Via di
Porta S. Paolo (XIV) ; on the Via di Porta S. Paolo itself, where

66 GENERAL INFORMATION

the road bifurcates, one arm descending towards the gate, the
other towards the Monte Testaccio (XV). This is the finest ruin
of all, because it shows the restorations of the time of Camillus
resting on the original structure of Servius. Fig. 29 represents
the i^resent state of the ruin, but more than half of it is concealed
by the accumulation of modern soil. I had the good fortune to
see it completely exposed to view in 1868, when I made the draw-
ing a facsimile of which is here given.

Tliere is another fragment to be seen in the adjoining Vigna
Maccarani-Torlonia (XVI), some stones of which were removed
by Padre Secchi, the astronomer, to the Observatory of tlie Col-
legio Romano, to serve as a pedestal for the great Merz equatorial.
The walls appear again against the cliff of the Aventine, at the
Arco di S. Lazzaro, Via di Marmorata (XVII) ; and lastly, under
the convent of S. Sabina, where they were laid bai-e in 1856
(XVIII). There is absolutely no trace of Servian fortifications
on the opposite or Transtiberine side of the river.

Four gates opened in the walls between the Porta Capena and
the Tiber : the Naivia, on the Via Aventina, from which issued
the Via Ardeatina; the Rudusculana, on the Via di Porta S.
Paolo, from which issued the Via Ostiensis ; the Navalis, on the
Via di S. Maria Aveutinese ; and the Trigemina, on the Via di
Marmorata.

Many stones built into the original wall of Servius are marked
with signs or letters, which have given rise to much speculation.
Consult —

Luigi Briizz.n, Sopi-a i ser/ni incisi nci 7na.%ti flvllc iinirn, etc. (Annali Inst.,
1876, pis. i, k.) — Heinricli .lorchui, Topoyraphu', vol. i. \i. 250, pis. 1, 2. —
Otto Ricliter, Uebvr antlke Steinmi'tzzeichtn, 1885.

Literature. — Adolf Becker, Be Romce reteris onuris atque portis, p. 81;
and Topof/raphie, p. 92. — Thomas Uyer, History of the City of Rome, p. 47.
— R. Bergau, Die Befesiic/unc/ Romn clurch Tuvquinim Prisms unci Serrius
Tullius. Gottingen, isfn. — Rodolfo Lanciani, BulJe muru e porte di Servio
(in Ann. Inst., 1871, )>. 40) : and Bull. urch. com., 1876, pp. 24, 121. — Heinrieh
.Jordan, Topot/rapliie, vol. i. ji. 200. — Otto Ricliter, i'(e Befestiguny des
laniciiliim.

XTX. Walls of Aurelian and Probus, a. d. 272. — We
have no account of the construction of the walls of Aurelian.
We only k)iow, in a general way, that the Emperor was compelled
to fortify the capital by the bai'barian invasion of a. d. 271, in the
course of which the enemy had reached the banks of the Metaurus ;
that, during the respite between the Marcomannic and tlie Pal-

WALLS OF SERVirS

68 GENERAL INFORMATION

myrene campaigns, he inclosed the city mui-is quam ralUlissimis,
and that the great undertaking, begun in 272, was finished by
Probus about seven years hiter.

The circuit of tlie walls, which I have measured inch by inch for
the construction of the " Forma Urbis," measures 18,837 metres.
The strip of land occupied by these fortifications is 19 metres
wide : five of which are taken by the inner " clieminde ronde" four
by the walls themselves, ten by the outside road ; 358,000 square
metres were consequently expropriated by Aurelian ; and, as the
land was thickly covered with villas, houses, gardens, and tombs,
the cost of purchase must have been considerable. At 20 lire the
square metre it would I'each 7,000,000 lire.

The walls consist of a solid foundation of concrete from 3.-50
to 4 metres thick, faced with triangular bricks ; of a covered way
with loopholes on the outside, and a gallery or arcade in the inner
side ; and a terrace or balcony above, lined with battlements (Fig.
30). There are towers at an interval of 100 Roman feet (29.70
metres), projecting from four to five metres. Each tower contains
a staircase giving access to the lower corridor and to the terrace
above. According to the survey made by Ammon, after the
restoration of the walls by Arcadius and Honorius in 403, there
wei'e 381 towers in all, exclusive of those of the mausoleum of
Hadrian (Hadrianium), which had been converted into a tete du
pont, to prevent the approach of the enemy from the Via Tri-
umphalis and the Prata Neronis. Of these 381 towers only one
has come down to us in a perfect state — the sixth to the left
of the Porta Salaria. We can judge from its elegance and good
construction that the builders of the walls had tried to disfigure
the monumental city as little as i:)ossible ; we can judge also how
much damage the walls must have suffered in the course of cen-
turies, to be reduced to their present state of decay !

These noble walls, which have so often saved the city from
pillage and destruction, on the face of which our history is wi'itten
almost year by year, and so carefully preserved even in the darkest
period of the Middle Ages, are now doomed to disappear. State
and city have with equal promptness declined to undergo the
expense of keeping them in repair. A section of them, 70 metres
long, between the Porta S. Giovanni and S. Croce in Gerusalemme,
fell in 1893. The only measure taken was a warning given to
passers-by that another portion would soon share the same fate.

The volume of masonry employed in tlie construction of the walls
is estimated at 1,033,000 cubic metres. The cost at the present

WALLS OF AURELIAN AND PROBUS

day would liave exceeded 26,000,000 lire, but we cannot make any
calculation for Aurelian's time, because we do not know what

Fig. 30. — The Covered Way of the Walls of Aurelian, Vigna Casali.

were the price of labor and the cost of building-materials in his
day. As a rule the walls are built with the spoils of the edifices

70 GENERAL INFORMATION

which stood on their line and were demolished to clear the space ;
only the surface and the arches are coated with bricks made for
the occasion. Two recent discoveries illustrate this point ; they
also bear evidence to the hurry with which the work was done,
and therefore to the greatness of the peril from which Rome had
escaped.^

A piece of the walls was cut away in November, 1884, between
the third and the fourth tower on the right of the Porta S.
Lorenzo, for the opening of the new Viale del Camposanto. An
older construction had been embedded there in the thickness of
the masonry, viz., a garden wall incrusted with shells, enamel, and
pumice-stones, with niches worked in a rough kind of mosaic,
and crowned by a cornice covered with sheets of lead. When
Aurelian's engineers met with this obstacle, they did not lose
time in demolishing it, but embedded it in their own masonry.
So far, this is not remarkable ; but what remains inexplicable is
that the statues were not removed from their niches.

We have found them one by one in their original places, and
they are not the work of an ordinary chisel, but delicate pieces of
Graeco-Ronuxn sculpture, so much so that Professor Petersen lias not
disdained to give illustrations of them in the " Bull. arch, com.,"
vol. xvii., a. 1889, p. 17, tav. 1, 2. The statues and the whole front
of the garden wall were not damaged by the new consti'uction be-
cause the engineers had taken care to protect them with a coating
of clay. Traces of this nymphseum are still to be seen on the left
of the new Barriera di S. Lorenzo. The second discovery was made
in February, 1892, on the line of the Via INIontebello, between the
garden of the English Embassy and the Praetorian Camp. Here a
private house of the first century stood on tlie line of tlie walls.
One would have expected the house to be leveled to the ground,
and the walls raised on the space left free by the demolition ; but
the engineers, in their haste, satisfied themselves with filling up
the space between the sides of each room, leaving intact mosaic
pavements, marble stairs, lintels, thresholds, and frescoes. This
done, as soon as their own masonry was sufficiently hardened, they

1 The victorj' of Aiirelian on the hanks of the Metaurus must have been
so decisive that the whole Empire rejoiced at it. It is recorded even in the
formulaj of contemporary gaming-tables (labulm lusnrim). One of these,
discovered in 1892 in the catacombs of Priscilla, contains the words, " hostes •
victos • Italia • gaudet • Indite • Romani;" another, discovered almost at the
same time, in the cemetery of S. Eucharius at Treves, says, "virtus • imperi •
hostes • vincti • liidant ■ Romani."

WALLS OF AURELIAN AND PROBUS 71

shaved off, as it were, whatever projected on either side, and went
on with their work.

We come now to an important, and altogetlier new, point of
research. For what cause, and from what military, teclmical, or
financial reasons, was this special course of the walls selected ?
and why were some important districts of the city left out, others
included which contained nothing but tombs ? The answer is
easily given. The com'se selected was that of the octroi, which
followed closely that of the pomerium, or in other words, the
line of separation between the city proper (continentia cedijicla)
and the suburbs (^expatiantia tecla). Much has been written about
the octroi line by —

Theodor Mommsen, Bcrkhte rl. sacks. Gesillsc/i. ,lHbO, p. 3()U. — Gio. Battista
dc Rossi, Archavol. Anztlf/vr, 1850, p. 147 ; and Piunte di Roma, ch. vii. p. 46.
— Corpus /user., vol. vi. n. 1016, n, b, c. — Ephemeris Ejjiijr., vol. iv. p. 276. —
Rodolfo Lauciaiii, Bull. arch, com., vol. xx., 1892, p. 93.

It was marked by stone cippi, five of which have been described
by epigraphists. The first was found, at the time of Andrea
Fulvio, on the landing-place of the Tiber, under the Aventine. It
bore this inscription : —

QVICQVID VSVARIVM INVEHITYR ANSARIVM NON DEBET,

which proves that duties were levied also on some kind of mer-
chandise and provisions which came by water. The other four
belong to the reorganization of the octroi made by M. Aurelius and
Commodus al)oat the year a. d. 175, and they are all inscribed with
the same regulations : " These terminal stones have been set up, in
consequence of the quarrels which often arise between the importers
and the tax-receivers, to show which is the exact line of the octioi
according to the ancient custom."

The place of discovery of the first stone is uncertain ; the second
was found near the Porta Salaria ; the third near the Porta Flami-
nia ; the fourth near the Porta Asinaria. They stood, therefore, on
the very line followed a century later by Aurelian's waUs. Now it is
evident that whoever establishes a financial barrier round an open
city must try to take advantage of every existing natural or artificial
obstacle to prevent smuggling and fraud. Another obvious pre-
caution is to reduce to a minimum the number of openings, so as
to save the expense of a large staff of officers. Between two ojien-
ings, viz., between two toll-houses, they must have raised palisades,
stone walls, hedges, or excavated ditches, unless the obstacles
offered by the undulations of the ground or by public edifices

72 GENERAL LNFORMATION

afforded sufficient protection against snmggiing. This was exactly
the case with Rome, where one sixth of the whole octroi line had
been found ready-made by the substructure of the Horti Aciliani
on the Pincian (550 metres) ; by the inclosure wall of the Ilorti Sal-
lustiani (1200 metres), and of the Praetorian Camp (1050 metres) ;
by the arcades of the Marcian (SCO meti'es) and of the Claudian
aqueducts (475 metres) ; and lastly, by the Amphitheatrum Cas-
treuse (100 metres). The octroi line, therefore, of the time of M.
Aurelius and Commodus comprised an inclosure built on the prin-
ciples of financial strategy, with first-class gates and custom-houses
on the main roads and river landings, and with posterns and small
pickets on the smaller lanes and landings of ferry-boats. From
such financial fortifications to the walls of Aurelian the step is very
short. Aurelian simply changed into a strong bulwark the octroi
inclosure, respecting its gates, posterns, and ferries.

Rkferences. — Arlolf Becker, De muris atque jwrtis. Leipsic, 1842. —
Antonio Nibby and William Gell, Le mwa di Romn, 1820. — Eugene Miintz,
Les arts a In cour des Papes, passim. — G. Battista de Rossi, Bull, arch crist.,
serie v., anno ii., 1891, p. 35. — Rodolfo Lanciani, Le mum di Aureliano e di
Probo: Bull. arch, com., xx. p. 87.

The late John Henry Parker prepared illustrations of the walls of Aurelian
by numerous drawings and photographs, the first by Cicconetti, the second by
Lucchetti. The collection of drawings belongs now to the Conimissione Arch,
comunale di Roma ; the negatives of the photographic collection were de-
stroyed by tire in July, 1893.

XX. Restoration of the Walls by Hoxorius. — The re-
storation of the walls by Ai'cadius and Honorius was commenced,
according to Claudianus, " audito rumore Getarum," from the fear
of an advance of the Goths under Alaric, and was completed in
January, 402, under the direction of Stilicho. The great under-
taking was celebrated by several inscriptions engraved above tlie
gates, of which three only have survived destruction : those of the
portai Tiburtina, Prpenestina, and Portuensis. (See Corpus Inscrip-
tionum, vol. vi. n. 1188-90.)

These inscriptions speak of " instauratos in-bi a^ternse muros
portas ac turres, egestis immensis ruderibus," INIacrobius Longini-
anus being the prefect of the city. The catastrophe, however, was
not avoided, but deferred. Alaric crossed the Aljjs from Illyria
towards the end of 402, and showed himself before the walls
of INIilan, while Honorius was intrenching himself at Ravenna.
Stilicho, by a miracle of energy and bravery, collected an army,
reached the Goths at Pollenzo, and defeated them in the spring of

RESTORATIOX OF THE WALLS BY HONORIUS 73

403. The victory was celebrated by Houoriiis in the following
year, with the last triumph witnessed in Rome, the last spark
of a noble light about to vanish forever. The pageant marched
along the walls just restored, and ended at the triumphal arch
raised to the glory of the Emperor and his associates —

QVOD GETARVM NATIOXKM IX OMNE AEVVM DOCVERE EXTINGVI.^

Six years later, on August 24, 410, Alaric and the Getarum
Natio entered Rome by the Porta Salaria !

AVithout entering into particulars concerning this restoration of
the walls and gates, I shall only dwell a moment on the tale it
tells about the fate of Rome at the beginning of the fifth century.
Stilicho and Honorius found the walls almost buried under a mass
of rubbish and refuse (imjnensa rudera) ; and as they had neither
time nor means to clear the rubbish away they leveled it on the
spot, and raised at once the level of that strip of city land from
nine to thirteen feet. The thresholds of the porta; Flaminia,
Tiburtina, Pr?enestina, Ostiensis of Honorius are as much as this
above those of the time of Aurelian. And what destructions were
accomplished for the sake of providing materials ! It is enough
to quote the instance of the Porta Appia, the bastions of which
were rebuilt of solid marltle, from the celebrated Temple of Mars
which stood outside the gate.

XXI. Gates of Aurelian and Honorius. — The gates of
the city of Rome have seen more historical events during the 16"24
years of their existence than any other monuments of the ancient
world. Considering that even the volume of Gell and Nibby is
far from being exhaustive on this jioint of historical topography, T
could hardly enter into the subject myself. The student will find
detailed information in the works mentioned below.

Starting from the left bank of the Tiber, above the Ponte Mar-
gherita, we must mention, first, the corner tower of great strength,
which was considered by the Romans to be haunted by the ghost
of Xero: uhl iimhra Neronis diu mansitavit. Later it was called Lo
Trullo.

C. Ludovico Visconti, Bull. arch, com., 1877, p. 195. — Rodolfo Lanciani,
Forma Urhi^, pi. 1. — Constantino Corvisieri, Archivio Societa storia patria,
vol. i. p. 92, n. 1.

Between the river and the Porta Flaminia (del Popolo) there

1 See Corjnis Inscripiionum, vol. vi. n. 1196. The inscription of the arch
refers also to the victory gained by Stilicho over Radagaisus in 405.

74 GENERAL INFORMATION

was a beautiful tomb, upon which the third tower left of the gate
is planted.
Ludwig Urlichs, Codex topogr., p. 243. — Bull. arch, com., 1891, p. 140.

The Porta Flaminia of llouorius, flanked by two round towers,
was discovered in 1877 during the demolition of the two square
bastions of Sixtus IV.

C. Ludovico Visconti, Bull. arch, com., 1877, p. 209. — Constantino Corvi-
^\e.Y\, Archivlo Societa storia patria, vol. i. p. 79, n. 1. — Pasqiiale Adinolfi,
Roma nell' eta, di mezzo, vol. i. p. 81. — Giuseppe Tomniasetti, Archivlo Societa
storia patria, vol. vi. p. 173.

Behind the apse of S. Maria del Popolo the walls reach the
northeast corner of the Pincian liill, the substVuctures of which,
built by the Acilii Glabriones, were so gigantic in size and height
that no extra works of defense were added to them by Aiirelian.
At the opposite or northeast corner of the hill we find the " muro
torto," a piece of the substructure which is inclined outwards at
an angle of six or seven degrees. Procopius (Goth., i. 23) de-
scribes it exactly as we see it now. In the Middle Ages women
of ill fame were buried at the foot of the inclined wall, and in
more modern times men and women who died impenitent.

The Porta Pinciana, originally a modest postern, was trans-
formed into its present shape by Belisarius. It opens on the Via
Salaria vetus, which took the name of Pincia or Pinciana at the
end of the fourth century. This gate will always get a share of
the interest we feel for the gallant defender of Rome in .537. The
Goths of Vitiges were encamped on the INIonti Parioli, watching
the Porta Pinciana ; and on the site of the Villa Albani, watching
the Porta Salaria. The best feat of the siege was the sally made
by Belisarius, in the course of which the barbarians were driven
back as far as the Anio. The Byzantine leader rode a white
charger named ^d\iov by Procopius, and Balan by the Goths ; but
in spite of prodigies of valor, his men began to waver, and he
was obliged to retreat. The garrison of the Porta Pinciana, not
recognizing the leader, covered as he was with dust and blood,
obliged the retreating party to face the enemy again and drive
them away from the walls. Belisarius at last entered the gate
amidst frantic cheering, and his name was given to the gate itself
(Porta Belisaria) in'memory of the eventful day.

From the Pinciana to the Salaria the walls of Aurelian are in
splendid preservation. A tower, the sixth before reaching the Sa-
laria, is the only perfect one in the whole circuit. The Porta

GATES OF AURELIAN AND HONORIUS (O

Salaria of Honorius, injured by the bombardment of September
20, 1870, was rebuilt in the present form by Vespignani. The
discoveries made on this occasion are described by —

C. Ludovico Visconti, llfanciullo Q. Siilpicio ^fassimo. Rome, 1871. — Wil-
helm Henzen, Sepulcri untichi rinvenutl alia porta Salaria (in Bull. Inst.,
1871, p. 98.) — Giovanni Ciofi, Inscnpt. . . . Q. Sulpicii Maximi. Rome,
1871.— J. H. Parker, Tombs in and near Rome, Oxford, 1877, pi. 10. — Ro-
dolfo Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome, p. 280.

The Porta Pia, a work of 1561, by Matteo da Castello, stands
75 metres to the left of the ancient gate of the time of Honorius.
It was first called Nomentana, and later on, Porta S. Agnetis and
Porta della Donna. Its two round towers are built, as usual, over
classic tombs. The one on the right was excavated in 1827 by
Zamboni. It belonged to Quintus Haterius, called by Tacitus
" senex fcedissimoe adulationis."

After passing two posterns in the portion of the walls which
surround the garden of the Englisli Embassy, we meet with the
Pr.-etorian camp, described in Book IV. ; and, on the other side
of it, with the Porta Chiusa, which gave access to the Vivarium
or imperial menagei'ie, where wild beasts were kept in readiness
for tlie games of the amphitheatre. The walls on this part of
the city have been largely restored with blocks of stone, from the
inclosure wall of the Vivarium.

The Porta S. Lorenzo, spanning the Via Tiburtina, was one of
the most remarkable before 1869, when Pius IX. caused it to be
demolished, to make use of the stones of which it was built for
the foundations of the Colonna del Concilio on the Janiculum.
The gate was double : the outside arch, dating from the time of
Augustus, carried the Marcia, Tepula, and Julia over the road;
the inside formed part of the fortifications. Fig. 31 (preceding
page), from a photograph taken in 1868, shows tlie rise in the
level of tlie city from the time of Augustus to that of Honorius,
as the threshold of the gate of the fourth century is on the same
level with the spring of the arch of Augustus.

Between the Porta Tiburtina (S. Lorenzo) and the Prfenestina
(Maggiore) the walls follow the line of the arcades of the Marcia.
Tepula, and Julia, beautiful remains of which can be seen in the
inner side, near the new barriera.

The Porta Prfenestina, a magnificent work of Claudius in tlie
so-called rustic style, served originally for the tran.sit of the
Claudia and Anio Novus over the roads leading to Prseneste and
Labicum. Honorius walled up one of the archw^ays, and fortified

GENERAL INFORMATION

the other with towers resting on tombs. Tlie towers and the gate
were destroyed in 1838, when the pcwariwn of the baker M. Ver-
gilius Eurysaces and of his wife Atistia were laid bare.

Tlie Porta S. Lorenzo.

Luigi ("aiiina, SuJ Juogo denomiiiato la Speranza rercJiIa. Rome, 1839. — Bull.
/ws^,"l8:i8, |). 144. — .4'«». hjsl., 1838, p. -221. —Curjjus Inscr., vol. i. pp. 222,
223 ; vol. vi. n. 1958.

GATES OF AURELIAX AND HONORIUS 77

The next piece of the wall, from the Porta Maggiore to S. Croce
in Gerusalemme, must be visited from the garden annexed to this
church. It appears like a combination of aqueducts and fortifi-
cations, of classic, mediaeval, and modern structures, i\^'-clad and
exceedingly picturesque. The entrance is from the first gate on
the left of the church.

After passing the Amphitheatrum Castrense, described in Book
IV. § XV., the great breach produced by the collapse of the walls
in 1893, and the Porta S. Giovanni, built by Gregory XIII. in
l.')7o, we reach the Porta Asinaria, which, although sunk deep in
the ground, is one of the best preserved of Roman gates. Through
it Belisarius entered on December 9, .580, while the. Gothic garri-
son was escaping by the Porta Flaminia. We can follow the
i:>rogress of one and the retreat of the other army, and the vicissi-
tudes of the war, by the way contemporary inscriptions are dated.
In the lands belonging to or reconquered by the Byzantines the
epitaplis of 5o0 are dated " post consulatum Belisarii ; " in those
occupied by the Goths, " iterum post consulatum Paulini iunioris."
There was, however, in Home an obscure man whose faith in the
liberation of the city from the barbaric rule, at the hand of Beli-
sarius, was never shaken. Ilis tombstone, now in the " Sacre
Grotte Vaticane," says that John, the book-keeper of the tavern of
Isidorus, had died on May '23, 536, consvlatv vilisari viri
CLAKissiMi. It was engraved six months before the retreat of the
Goths. Ten years later the same gate was tlirown open to Totila
by the treachery of a body of Isaurians.

There is a postern under the Lateran palace, and farther on,
where the IVIarrana of Calixtus II. enters the city, a gate now
closed, the classic name of which seems to be Porta Metroni. An
inscription inside it mentions the restoration of this stretch of
the walls made in 11.")" by the S. P. Q. R., R(egnante) D(omino)
N(ostro Friderico) 8(emper) A(ugusto). The erasure of the
name of Barbarossa must have taken place in 1167, when the city
was besieged by the allied forces of the Tusculans and of tlie
Empire.

The next gate, tlie Latina, is beautifully preserved, but closed
like the Porta Metroni. There is the Christian monogram above
the arch between the mystic letters A and n.

Antonio XiMiy, Ronm anfirn, vol. i. p. 148. — Giuseiipc Tuniniasetti, La via
Latina, p. fj. IJome, 1880.

The Porta S. Sebastiano, the Appia of .\urelian and Ilonorius,

78 GENERAL INFORMATION

was rebuilt by the latter with the spoils of the Temple of Mars
" extra muros.'' 1 am sure that if the blocks of marble could be
examined from the inside of the two bastions, they would all be
found sculptured or engraved like those of the Porta del Popolo
of Sixtus IV. On the right post of the gate, and concealed by
the wooden folding frame, is engraved the figure of an angel, with
the inscription, " In the year of our Lord 1327, xi. indiction, Sept.
29, in the feast of S. Michael, a foreign army [that of King Robert
of Naples] tried to force its way into the city, but was repulsed
by the people of Rome led by Jacopo de' Ponziani."

Orazio Marucchi, Silhir/e di alcune iscrizioni, etc., p. 100, n. 47.

On the right of the Porta S. Sebastiano opens one of the pos-
terns used only in jubilee years, and walled up since the Na-
poleonic times. Others are to be seen on the side of each gate
leading to great places of pilgrimage, like the Salaria (Forma
Urbis, pi. iii.), the Tiburtina, and the Ostiensis. After the tenth
tower there is a fine specimen of brickwork of the time of the
Antonines, a door flanked by half columns of the Corinthian order,
with finely cut capitals and frieze. It does not belong to a tomb,
as Nibby and others have suggested, but to a private villa dis-
covered at the beginning of this century in the Vigna Volpi, within
the walls.

The Rastione del Sangallo, a few steps farther on, carefully kept
in repair up to 1870, is now abandoned to its fate, and its brick
facing is spoilt by vegetation which almost hides it from view.
Huelsen has discovered in the Ufiizi the original design of Antonio
da Sangallo, which shows the portion of the wall destroyed by
Paul III. to make room for this bulwark, which was 400 metres
long, with nine towers and one gate. The gate is undoubtedly the
Ardeatina, ou the subject of which consult —

Antonio Nibby, Dint ami di Romn, vol. iii. p. 560. — Gio. Battista de Rossi,
Roma sotterraiiea, vol. ii. p. 8. — Heinrich Jordan, Topor/rajjhie, vol. i. pp.
2.33, .3G8. — Giuseppe Tommasetti, Architno Societa storla j)atria, 1879, p. 385;
1880, p. 135.— Christian Huelsen, Mittheil., 1894, p. 320, pi. 9.

The Porta Ostiensis, now di S. Paolo, the last on the left bank,
dates from the time of Ilonorius, its level being nearly four metres
higher than that of the pyramid of Cestius. The treacherous
Isaurians thi-ew it open to the Goths in 549. King Ladislas en-
tered it in 1407, and caused it to be walled up, but the Romans
reopened it in 1410.

The walls did not end at their junction with the Tiber, but

GATES OF AU RE LI AN AND HONORIUS 79

turned inwards, following the left bank for 780 metres, until they

■•J.

Fig. ;VJ. - l)(i(.r nf tlif First Oiitiirj- Imilt into tlie Walls of Aurclian.

met with those of the opposite shore. Tliere were two great
towers to protect the entrance to Rome by water, a chain being

80 GENERAL INFORMATTON

drawn at night between them. The towers are represented in the
above sketch by Van der Aa (Fig. 33).

The walls on the Transtiberine side, still perfect in the sixteenth
century, have now disappeared, except for a short space on either
side of the Porta Septimiana. There were three gates : the Por-
tuensis, on the road to the Portus August! ; the Aurelia, on the
top of the Janiculuin ; and the Septimiana, on the road towards
the Vatican district.

The Portuensis stood 453 metres in front of the present one,
built in 1644 by Innocent X. Its site is indicated in Nolli's plan.
It had a double archway, and on the frieze above was engraved
the inscription of Ilonorius (Corpus, vi. 1190). The Aurelia had
changed its classic name into that of S. Pancratius since the time
of Procopius. Urban VIIL rebuilt it in 1044, and I'ius IX. after

Pig. 33. — Tlie Two Towers at the Entrance to the Harbor of Rome.

the French bombardment of 1S49. The Septimiana was reduced
to its present state by Alexander VI. in 1498.

XXII. Walls of Leo IV., Leopolis, Joiiannipolis, Lau-
RENTiOPOLis. — The construction of the walls of Leo IV. for the
defense of the Vatican suburb and of the basilica of S. Peter is
a consequence of the first Saracenic invasions. From Palermo
and Ca]ip Lilybiieum, which had already been named Mars-allah
(Marsala, the narl)or of (iod), the fleet of the Infidels sailed for
the Bay of Naples in 845, and after a long stay at ]\Iisenum,

WALLS OF LEO LV 81

advanced towards the moiitli of the Tiber in 846. The i'eeble
garrison of Gregorioi)olis (Ostia. recalled to life and fortified by
Gregory IV.) was easily overcome, and the l)arbarians were pre-
vented from taking possession of Rome rather by the strength of
its walls than by the valor of its defenders.

To revenge themselves for their repulse, the Saracens wrecked
the two suburban churches of S. Peter and S. Paul, and carried
away the inestimable treasures which the faithful had accumulated
in the course of centuries over the tombs of the Apostles. The
sight of the burning ruins caused the death of Pope Sergius II.,
and the panic-stricken citizens elected Leo IV. as his successor.

A curious discovery was made some years ago by Signor Pietro
Kocclii in connection witii one of these Saracenic inroads. Wliile
excavating tiie remains of a temple, in the farm of La Valchetta,
six miles below Rome on the road to Ostia, he discovered tiaces
of one of their camps, consisting mainly of daggers and poniards
with curved blades of Oriental make. The Saracens liad over-
thrown the temple, but columns, frieze, and capitals were found
lying In situ, together with a statue of liacchus in Pentelic mar-
ble. The statue, slightly restored by Fabi-Altini, adorned the
studio of the late Mr. W. W. Story in'l.S92.

I^eo IV. lost no time in relieving the fortunes of Rome: he
nuide an alliance with (iaeta, Amalfi, and Naples, organized a
tieet, and, taking the command of the allied forces, attacked the
Infidels at Ostia, near the moutli (if the Tiber, and gained a com-
jilete victory over them.^

To i)revent, however, the repetition of the same occurrence,
the ]X)])e determined to surround S. Peter's and the Borgo with a
fortified inclosure, the remains of which are still to be .seen in the
gardens of the Vatican and in the so-called Corridojo di Castello.

The study of this work of niediieval military engineering is
instructive, and .shows how carefully Leo IV. liad tried to imitate
the structure of the Aurelian walls. For those who have not the
fjjiportunity of examining the Leonine walls in the gardens of
the Vatican — where the best jireserved portion, including two
round-towers, is to be seen — the most favorable 2)oint of observa-
tion is the courtyard adjoining the church of S. Angelo dei Corri-
dori. The wall is V2 feet thick, and has, or rather had, a double
gallery, — one in the thickness of the wall, supported by open

1 This naval battle has been (lescril)t'(l l)y (Jufilit'Imotti in chap. xi. of tlie
Sfuria dclhi maririd ponfificiii, and illiisfratcd by Haphacl in fresco No. IV. of
the Stntiza dell^ /ncmi/in di Bovijo.

82 GENERAL INFORMATION

arcades on the inward side, and one on the top, level with the
battlements. The lower gallery was afterwards transformed into
a passage, II Corridojo di Castello, connecting the palace of the
Vatican with the fortress of S. Angelo. Many popes and cardinals
have escaped either from death or from servitude by means of
this corridor, one of the leading historical events in connection
with it being the flight of Pope Clement VII. from the hordes of
Charles V. led by the Constable de Bourbon.

The length of the wall is about 3000 metres ; the height varies
from 15 to 22 metres; the most exposed angles are protected by
round-towers, two of which are still in existence, and form a con-
spicuous landmark of the Vatican landscape. The woi'k does
credit to Leo IV., considering the poverty of the means at his
disposal. Two inscriptions in the arch which spans the Via di
Porta Angelica give important details of the scheme adopted to
obtain speedy work and cheap labor.

The first says : " In the time of our Lord the Pope Leo IV., the
Militia Saltisina has built these two towers and the intermediate
wall (pcigina) ;'^ the other, likewise: "In the time of our Lord
the Pope Leo IV., the Militia Capracorum has built this tower and
the wall which connects it with the next." It appears from these
inscriptions that the citizens of Rome being unequal to the task
of completing the fortification in the required time, the colonists
of the domus cultce (fortified farms of the Campagna) were called
upon to take a share in the work. Each section of the walls was
assigned to a company of soldier workmen ; and here we find the
mention of two : the company from Capracorum, that is to say
from Veil (Isola Fai'uese), whose silent ruins had been recalled to
life by Hadrian I. ; and the company from Saltisina, a colony on
the road to Ardea, fifteen miles from Rome. Both of them declare
tliat they have finished their special part of the construction
under the direction of a certain Agatho, who seems to have been
the designer and chief engineer of the walls. The new city was
solemnly styled Civitas Leoniana. and tables inscribed with its
name were fixed on each gate.

Other records of this work have been collected by De Rossi in
his memoir entitled " Le prime raccolte di antiche iscrizioni "
(Giornale arcadico, 1850). See also " Inscriptiones christianse
Urbis Romfe," vol. ii. pp. 324-326.

There were three gates and two jiosterns in Leopolis. The
first, called Porta S. Petri, opened on the ^Elian bridge under the
bastions of the Castle (S. Angelo). The second, called Posterula

WALLS OF LEO IV

S. Angeli, corresponds approximately witli the present Porta Cas-
tello. The third, called Sancti Peregrini (near the Angelica of
Pins IV.)) opened nnder the pope's residence towards the Via Tri-
umphalis. The i'onrth, Porta in Tnrrione, corresponds with the
Porta Cavalleggeri of the present day. The fifth, named Poste-
rula Saxonum, was transformed by A. da Sangallo into the monu-
mental Porta di Santo Spirito.

Fig. 34. — Tower of Leo IV. in the Vatican Gardens.

ground.

Bastions of Pius IV. in the fore-

JoHANXiPOLis. — John VIII. in 880 did for S. Paul's what Leo
IV. had done for S. Peter's, with this difference, that while the
Vatican Basilica and the Borgo A^ecchio were included in the city,
the Basilica Ostiensis remained a detached fort, communicating
with the city by means of a portico over a mile long. We must
acknowledge that the Romans did not show the same zeal and
reverence towards the two Apostles. S. Paul's tomb was allowed
to be profaned and to remain abandoned for over ten years, until

84 GENERAL INFORMATION

the poutificate of Benedict III. (855-858), who " sepulchrum, quod
a Sarracenis destructum fuerat, perornavit." The fortifications
were begun only in or about 880, and consisted of walls and tow-
ers, like those of Borghetto, Castel Savello, etc., including a con-
siderable space of ground on either side of the road to Ostia, and
on the left bank of the Tiber. An inscription in seven distichs,
above the gate facing Rome, contained the following words : —

PRiESVLIS OCTAVI DE NOMINE FACTA lOHANNIS
ECCE lOHANNIPOLIS VRBS VENERANDA CLVIT.

The fortress was of considerable strength, as we can argue from
the vigorous defense which Stefano Corsi made in it against Pope
Paschal II. in 1099. A document of 1074 sjieaks of the castellum
S. Pauli quod vacatur lohannipolis as still in good condition ; but
the so-called Anonymus Magiiabecchianus, who wrote between
1410 and 1415, says that it had disappeared long before his time.
I have gone over the ground covered by Johannipolis many times,
without finding a trace of the fortifications, except perhaps on
the river-side, where I saw in 1890 ruins of what appeared to be a
landing-stage.

LiTERATUKK. — Muratori, Antiqq. med. mv!, vol. ii. dis!<. xxvi. p. 40.3. —
Gio. Battista de Rossi, /«sc?-. christ. Urbis RoiruB, vol. ii. p. 326. — Rodolfo
Lanciani, Leopolis and Johannipolis, the Esquiliiie, .June, 1892. — Louis Du-
chesne, Liber pontificnlis, vol. ii. p. 298. — Giuseppe Tommasetti, Archivio
storia patria, a. 1896, fasc. i.

Laurentiopolis. — A second detached fort was built about the
same time for the protection of the basilica of S. Lorenzo fuori le
Mura, but no historical document mentions the fact. S. Lawrence
was held by the Romans almost in the same veneration as the two
Apostles, and a portico was built for the convenience of pilgrims
from the Porta Tiburtina to liis grave, exactly like those which
led from the J^^lian bridge to S. Peter's and from the Porta Osti-
ensis to S. Paul's. A document of the time of Urban VIII.
(1623-44), discovered by Armellini, says : " There are yet con-
siderable remains of the wall which once surrounded the basilica
of S. Lorenzo like a castle ; they are better preserved on the side
of the Via Tiburtina." Laurentiopolis has now completely dis-
appeared, but I am able to reproduce here a sketch of its fortifi-
cations drawn about 1534 by Martin Heemskerk.

XXm. The Fortifications of Paul III., Pius IV., and
Urban VIII. — The horrors which Rome suffered at the time of the
Sacco del Borbone, in 1527, were still fresh in the memories of the

FORTIFICATIONS OF PAUL III 85

Court and of the population when Cardinal Farnese was elected
pope with the title of Paul III. One of the first thoughts of
this great and generous man was to secure the city from a repe-
tition of the occurrence, and Antonio da Sangallo was commis-
sioned to draw up a plan for the fortifications. The survey he
made of the ground and the sketches of his plan of defense are
preserved in the I'ffizi at Florence. (T)i^segni 301, 1015, 1019, 1481,
1514, etc.) These drawings show liis proposal to reduce the cir-
cuit of the walls (on the left bank) by one third at least, in-

s,t> ,:

' 1 1 'mt^ ^

M<,

43iiirr'^' i/S^'i. t^**^

Fig. 35. — The Fortifications of Laurentiopolis. By M. Heemskerk.

closing at the same time in the line of defenses the Borgo Vati-
cano, which was very inefiiciently protected by the crumbling
walls of Leo IV. Bastions with double wings were to be raised
at intervals of 500 metres, the centres of defense being the castle
of S. Angelo for the right bank and the Lateran for the left.

The works were begun at once with great determination, but,
as time passed and the recollections of Bourbon's atrocities faded
quietly away, tliey were given np altogetlier. There remain as
specimens of Antonio da Sangallo's engineering skill — (1) the
bastione di Belvedere ; (2) the bastion of the Priorato or Aven-
tino ; (8) the bastion of the Yigna Cavalieri or Antoui(ni)ano ;
(4) the foundations of a third l)astiou under S. Saba. Many
plans of Rome of the time of Paid IV. give the whole system of
defenses as finished ; others represent the earthworks thrown up

86 GENERAL INFORMATION

in haste at tlie approach of the duke of Alva. The best of all
was engraved in 1557 by Lafreri, under the title : " Recens . . .
topograpliia cum vallis, fossis, et aggeribus ceeterisque qute ad
hostiuni impediend(as) irruptiones per universum urb(is) ani-
bitum . . . lieri curavit raul(us) II II. dum bello parthenop(eio)
premeretur." Pius IV. fortified the Borgo Nuovo in 1562.

Urban VIII., fearing the hostile action of the duke of Parma,
began in 1642 a new^ line of walls on the ridge of the Janiculum,
which are still kept in repair for military purposes. They start
from the Porta Tvirrionis of Leo IV. (Cavalleggeri), and reach the
Tiber at liipa Grande. Among the works of art discovered in
building these bastions, Bartoli mentions " many statues, one of
which, of bronze, is now in the Barberini palace, a bisellium or
magistrate's chair of bronze inlaid with silver, and several objects
of curiosity." The Ijronze statue represents Septimius Severus,
and was probably set up in the garden of his son Septinnus Geta.
It was lately in the possession of Prince Sciarra, and must have
shared the fate of the rest of his valuable collections. Urban
VIII. built but one gate, the Porta S. Pancrazio, ruined by the
French guns in 1849. The scarce engraving of the time, repro-
duced on the opposite page, shows the entry of the invaders on July
4th of that year.

Referknces. — Vincenzo de Marchi, ArchittUura militnre, p. 2 A, ed.
1590. — Maggi, FortifrnzUme, p. 115, Venice, 1564. — Scamozzi, ArchUettura
univermle, p. 108, Venice, 1615. — Alberto Gnglielmotti, Storia delle fortifi-
cazioni della gpinr/f/ia romnna, viii. 2, p. 320. — Mario Borgatti, Le. mum di
Roma, in Rivista di Artiglieria e Genio, 1890, p. 391. — Christian Huelsen,
Mittheilunr/en, 1894, p. 328.

XXIV. Modern Fortifications. — Eighteen outlying forts
and batteries have been raised by the Italian government for
the protection of the capital of the kingdom against a coup de
main from the sea. They follow each other in this order, going
from left to right : T. Monte Antemne ; II. Batteria Xomentana ;
III. Pratalata ; IV. Tiburtino ; V. Prenestino ; VI. Tusculano ;

VII. Porta Furba ; VIII. Appia Pignattelli ; IX. Appia Antica ;
X. Ardeatino; XI. Ostiense; XIL Portuense; XIII. Bravetta
(Villa Troiani) ; XIV. Aurelia Antica; XV. Boccea, on the Via
Cornelia; XVT. Casal Braschi, on the Via Traiana: XVII. Trion-
fale; XVIII. Monte Mario. Xo objects or ruins of archfeological
interest have been discovered in building forts numbers III, V,

VIII, XVI, and XVII ; the construction of the others has given
occasion for valual)le finds. They are described most carefully in
the " Notizie degli Scavi " from 1876 to 1884.

THE FOURTEEN REGlONii OF AUGUSTUS

XXV. The Fourteen Regions of Augustus. — Whoever
undertakes to separate into a certain number of wards a city,
not new or young, but many centuries old, and already divided
roughly by the undulations of tJie ground, by popular habits, by
relationship of neighborhood, must, if he wants to succeed, pay
attention to all these elements. Augustus, in attempting this
reform between 10 and 4 b. c, must have felt embarrassed in
the selection of fundamental lines, because the city had no cardo

Fig. 3G. — The French Array entering the Porta S. I'aucrazio, July 4, 1849.

or decumamis, and its plan was "magis occupataj urbis quam
divisai similis." He selected as a cardo or meridian a line which
started from the lianks of the Almo, beyond the first milestone
of the Appian Way, followed northwards this way to tlie Porta
Capena, and thence the east side of the Circus ]\Iaximus (Via de'
Cerchi), the Vicus Tuscus (di S. Teodoro), the Clivus Argenta-
rius (di Marforio), and the Via Flaminia (Corso) to the first
milestone. On this basis (ancient maps and geodetic operations
in general started from the south instead of the north) he divided
the ground on the left bank of the river into thirteen wards or
refjiones, and made the fourteenth out of the Trastevere. The
elements of the division are — (1) The meridian line just alluded

88 GENERAL INFORMATION

to ; (2) the Palatine hill, selected as a centre ; (3) the line of the
Servian walls ; (4) the main thoroughfares leading from the centre
of the city to the gates of Servius. However, as in the Augustan
age the city had extended far beyond the line of the Servian walls,
and populous suburbs had sprung up along the main consular
roads, six regions were established " extra muros " (I, V, VII, IX,
XII, XIV), eight "intra muros" (II, III, IV, VI, VIII, X, XI,
XIII). 1 This simple and practical operation is illustrated by the
sketch-map on the opposite page.

In Constantine's time the fourteen regions bore the names of
I. Porta Capena, II. Cfelimontium, III. Isis et Serapis, IV.
Templum Pacis, V. Esquilia;, VI. Alta Semita, VII. Via Lata,
VIII. Forum Romanum, IX. Circus Flaminius, X. Palatinum, XI.
Circus Maximus, XII. Piscina Publica, XIII. Aventinus, XIV.
Transtiberim. Some of these names cannot be original, because
at the time of Augustus there was no temple of Isis and Serapis
on the Oppian, no temple of Peace near the Carinae, and probably
no Via Lata at the foot of the Quirinal. The original wards were
probably distinguished by a number from I to XIV, counted from
right to left.

We have two documents on the statistics of each region, the
Notitia and the Curiosum, about which the reader may consult
Preller's " Regionen " mentioned below, and Jordan, " Topogra-
phic," vol. ii. (Untersuchungen liber die Beschreibung der XIV
Regionen), pp. 1-312 and pp. 539-582.

Both documents are of the fourtli century, and therefore their
statistics cannot l)e made use of in speaking of the Augustan
reform ; still they may help us in a great measure, because many
regions bounded by fixed barriei*s, like the Tiber and the Servian
walls, could not expand with the increase of the population like
those " extra muros." Regions II, III, IV, VI, VIII, X, XI of
the fourth century, fettered since their first institution by such
immovable boundaries, are essentially the same as in the first cen-
tury. The fact which strikes us most forcibly in examining their
statistics is the effort made by the surveying officers of Augustus
to equalize the divisions. They adopted as an average measure
for each ward a circuit of 12,000 to 12,500 feet (12,270), with the
exception of the sixth, to which, for local reasons,^ was given a

1 Claudius afterwards (a. d. 47) doubled the extent of the thirteenth, taking
in the plains of Testaccio, with their quays, wliarves, arsenals, granaries,
warehouses, sheds, corn-exchanges, etc.

2 The great projecting buttress of the Servian walls in the gardens of
Sallust.

THE FOURTEEN REGIONS OF AUGUSTUS

circuit of 15,700 feet. The others agree so well that there are
only 150 feet of difference between the second and the third, 07

P.FIaminia

P.Salaria

P.Ostiense

P.Tiburtina
Viminale.

R.V

P.Esquilina

P.Ardeatina

P.Asinaria

between the fourth and the eighth, 10 between the tenth and tlie
eleventh, as sjiown in the following table: —

Regions.

Circuit.

Parishes.

Tenement
Houses.

Private
Palaces.

Feet.

ir.

1-2, aoo

.3000

127

III.

I2,;j.50

27.57

IV.

i:i,000

27.57

VI.

1.1,700

3-403

140

VIII.

13,007

•■54

3480

1.30

uMy^

20!)2

XI.

11,500

2550

90 GENERAL INFORMATION

Not less remarkable is the uniformity in the number of tene-
ment-houses (^insuke). The third and fourth regions have each
2757 insular ; the difference between the sixth and the eighth is
only 77 ; between the third and the tenth 65. As far as palaces
(domus) are concerned, it is obvious that the surveying-officers
could not even approximately assign an equal number to each
ward, and therefore we find a difference of 86 between the maxi-
mum and the minimum. In spite of that, the fourth, tenth, and
eleventh have the same number (88-89) of palaces; the second,
sixth, and eighth almost the same (127-146). These statistics
help us to determine which parts of the city were the favorite ones
with the aristocracy. The sixth comes foremost, with 1 palace
to -every 23 houses ; last comes the third, with 1 to 45. These
results agree very well with the results of our excavations. How-
ever, all is not gold that glitters. The Curiosum and the Notitia
do not deserve the blind and implicit faith which has been placed
in them by topographers, and we have reason to believe their
statistics either incori'ect originally or made so by copyists. I cite
one or two instances. We may perhaps be mistaken in attributing
to the word damns the meaning of palace, and to the word insula the
meaning of tenement-house, and in this case their true significance
remains to be found out.^ But if their meaning is certain,^ how
can we crowd into the Palatine hill 2692 tenement-houses and 89
private palaces, when we know that the palaces of the Ca3sars
alone occupied nine tenths of its surface? Again, we may believe
to a certain extent that the geodetic experts of Augustus, turning
their compass over and over again on the map of the city, could
have found a circuit line of nearly equal length for each ward ;
but how is it possible that they could have placed exactly 2757
tenement-houses within the third and the fourth, and 2487 within
the twelfth and the fourteenth, although these i-egions are so
different in many other respects? It is impossible, therefore, to
accept the statistics, as has been done up to the present day, some
of their inaccuracies being patent. They assign, for instance, to

1 References (for insulce and domus). — Pietro Visconti, Atti Accad. Ar-
cheol. vol. xiii. p. 254. — Francesco Bianchini, Columhar. Livke, p. 49. —
Gaetano Marini, ArvaU,Y). 399. — Otto Richter, Insula (in Hermes, 1885, p. 91).
— Fricdlander, Sittenyeschichte Roms, vol. i. ]). 12. — Eyssenhardt, Romlsch
und Romdnlsch, p. 92. — Pohlmann, THe Ueberrolkerung der antiken Gross-
stddte. Leipsic, 1884. — Attilio de Marclii, Ricerche intorno (die insidie.
Milan, 1891.

2 Cf. the decisive passage of Tacitus, Ann. xv. 41: Domorum t't insularum
et templorum, qux amissa sunt, numeruni inire hand proniptuni fiiit.

THE FOURTEEN REGIONS OF AUGUSTUS

the tenth or Pahitiiie region a cii'cuit of 3418 metres (11,510 feet).
I have measured it twice over in designing Sheets xxix. and xxxv.
of my " Forma Urbis," detaining an average length of 2080.
There is an exaggeration of 1:338 metres.

A remarkable study has just been published on this question by
Huelsen in Bull. arch, com., 1894, p. 312. According to his cal-
culations the Coliseum could accommodate only from 40,000 to
45,000 seated spectators, the Theatre of INIarcellus from 9000 to
10,000, the Circus Maximus about 150,000. These figures are very
far from tlie 87,000 places (Jac(i) which the catalogues attribute
to the first, from the 17,580 given to the second, from the 385,000
given to the third. I bring this chapter to a close with the statis-
tics of the regions " extra muros : " —

Regions.

Circuit.

Parishes.

Tenement
Houses.

Private
Palaces.

Feet.

]2,214..5

3250

120

I."), 000

1.5

3850

ISO

VII.

1 4, .')()()

1.5

3805

120

IX.

:22,.")00

;i.-)

2777

140

X I! .

1-2, 000

2487

113

XIII.

18,000

2487

l.!()

XIV.

;w,i94

4405

1.50

Comparing the two tables, we find that the aristocratic quarter
par excellence was the thirteenth (Aventine), with 1 palace in 19
hou.ses, followed closely by the ninth (Circus Flaminius), with 1
in 20. Last comes the third (Lsis et Serapis), with 1 in 46. The
patricians evidently preferred the quarters more distant from the
centre.

LiTEKATiiRK. — Heinricli .Jordan, Topngrnphie, vol. ii. p. 72. — T-iuhvi^
Prt'ller, Dit Reffionen d. St. Rom. .Jciia, 1840. — AVilhelni Ilenzeii, Corpitx
/user. Lnt., vol. vi. p. 80, ad n. 454. — (}. Hattista de Rossi, Piante di R.
anteriori al sec. XVI. p. 39. — .Toachini Marquardt, Staat.trerwaltunf/, iii. pp.
204, 205. — (Jiusejipe Gatti, Bull. arch, corn., vol. xvi. p. 224. — Rodolfo Lan-
ciani, Ricerche stillc XIV ref/ioni : ibid. vol. xviii. p. 115.

XXVI. TiiK PopuLATiox OF AxfiF.NT RoME. — There is no
instance in the history of the world of so ra]iid and magnificent a
growth as that of Rome from its first foundation on the Palatine

92 GENERAL INFORMATION

by a mere handful of shepherds. Whether by wisdom or by
power or by valor, they were destined from the beginning to
become the rulers of the world. And even now the civilized
nations are governed by their laws, travel by their roads, and
speak or understand their language. During the twenty-six cen-
turies of its existence the population of Rome has had much to
suffer — changing customs, habits, opinions, forms of government,
and religion. No other city has been besieged, taken, robbed, and
burnt so often, and yet the vitality of the root could never be im-
paired. Even in the worst period of the Middle Ages, when tem-
porarily dethroned by Avignon, Rome and its name never lost
tlieir influence and prestige, but while in the first centuries of the
Republic the reality was in advance of reputation, at the end of
the Middle Ages reputation was ahead of true facts.

Roman history is represented with astonishing precision by the
fluctuations in the number of its inhabitants, because men rush
where they can find food, work, luxury, health, power, fame, se-
ciu'ity, and fly when such advantages are difficult or impossible to
obtain. Political power alone, without the comforts of life, is
not sufficient to stimulate immigration into a city : Rome was at
its lowest under the most powerful of medijeval popes. Innocent
III.

Three attempts have been made lately to estimate the number
of the inhabitants of ancient Rome : one by Pietro Castigiione,
" Delia popolazione di Roma dall' origine sino ai nostri tempi "
(Monografia di Roma, vol. ii. p. 187) ; the second by myself, in a
memoir on the " Vicende edilizie di Roma antica," published in
the same work, vol. i. p. 1 ; the third by Prof. Julius Beloch, " Ex-
trait du Bulletin de I'lnstitut international de Statistique," Rome,
Botta, 1S86.

The question is worth investigation, on account of the amazing
estimates made by older writers. Lipsius mentions 4,000,000,
Vossius 14,000,000 ! Gibbon gives the city 1,200,000 souls at the
time of Constantine, and although his calculations rest on no sci-
entific basis, yet his exquisite historical intuition made him strike
almost the right figure. Bunsen's standard measure — the number
of those to whom grain was gratuitously distributed under Au-
gustus— is the right one, but he is greatly mistaken in reckoning
the number of slaves. At all events his statement — 1,;)00,000 as a
mini nmm, '2,000,000 as a maximum — has been accepted by Ger-
man writers : by Nietersheim (1,500,000), IMarquardt (l,Go6,000),
Friedlander (1,000,000 for the first, 2,000,000 for the second cen-

THE POPULATION OF ANCIENT ROME 93

tury), and others. Again, those who have taken as a basis the
area of the city inclosed by walls (nine million square metres),
compared with the density of population in modern capitals,
have fallen into the other extreme. Dureau de la Malle assigns
to fourteen wards of the imperial city a population of 562,000,
Castiglione assigns 584,000. The results attained by Beloch are
expressed in the closing paragraph of his memoir as follows :
" Taking into consideration the number of those who had a right
to the free distribution of grain at the beginning of the Empire,
the popnlation of Rome, of the Campagna, and of some of
the surrounding hills must have amounted to from 950,000 to
1,035,000 souls; that of the city alone from 760,000 to 920,000.
Again, calculating the habitable space within the walls of Au-
relian, we have found out for the city alone a popidation of from
800,000 to 850,000 souls. The approximation of these figures
reached by different ways shows that we cannot stray very far
from the truth if we adopt for Rome and the Campagna the mim-
ber of about 1,000,000, for Rome inclosed by walls that of 800,000.
However modest the number may seem, compared with former
ideas, we must remember that it was never reached by a modern
capital up to the beginning of the present century."

From the end of the third century downwards the population
diminished with appalling rapidity. Castiglione says that in ;];55
B. c. it was reduced to ;500,(H)(), but his estinuite is evidently too
low. Pillage after pillage, barbarian inroads, famine, insecurity,
bad government or no government at all, earthquakes, and inun-
dations did the rest ; and we are told that in the year 1377, on the
return of the popes from Avignon, there were only 17,000 survi-
vors in tlie ruinous waste.' Whether the figure be exact or not,
these few men who held firm and faithful to their native soil. de-
serve the gratitude of mankind. Without them, the site of Rome
would now be pointed out to the inquiring stranger like that of
Veil, of Fidente, of Ostia, and of Tusculum. There are three
works on Roman statistics of the sixteentli and seventeenth cen-
turies full of new and interesting information.

Mariano Arniellini, Un cenmnento (Jella cilta di Rinnn softo il jioiitifimU) di
Leone X. Rome, 1882. — Domenico Giioli, Dcxcri/ilio urbis, o censimento delia
popolazione di Roma arnnfi il nacco borboniro. Koim', 1804. — Fraiifesco Cera-
soli, Censimento della 2>oj)olazione di Roma dalP anno 1000 nl 1739. Koine,
1891.

Here are a few facts. In Pope Leo X.'s time the number of
1 Compare Domenico Gnoli, Descriptio urbis.

GENERAL INFORMATION

the cortesane was equal to about one third of the total of single
women or widows within the walls of the city. Their luimber
had diminished to 604 in 1600, to rise up again steadily until
the maximum of 1295 is reached in 1639. A century later, iir
1739, they were reduced to 100 (?).

In 1527, the population being 55,035, some of the cardinals had
the following retinue of servants and officers (corte cardinalizia) :
Farnese, 306 jiersons ; Cesarini, 275 ; Orsini, 200 ; del Monte, 200 ;
and so on in decreasing numbers, until we reach the figure of 60
for Cardinal Numalio, and 45 for de Vio.

In 1639, in a population of 114,256 souls, there were 24 bishops,
1786 priests, 3539 monks, 2196 nuns, '2lSi) fainif/liari oi cardinals,
— a clerical nucleus over 10,000 strong. There were 975 regis-
tered beggars, 13 Moorish slaves. Of 88,144 persons capable of
satisfying the Pascal precept 77,471 took the lu^ly communion.
There were only 238 inmates of public prisons.

At the beginning of this century the population numbered
153,004 souls. The French invasions and the Napoleonic wars
brought a decline, which culminated in 1812 with 117,882 in-
habitants. But the ascending movement began again witli tlie
Peace of Vienna, and has continued uninterruptedly to the present
day. When Rome became the capital of Italy in 1780, tliere
were 226,022 inhabitants; the Jiumber has doubled since, as sliown
by this table : —

Year.

Popula-
tion.

Deaths.'

Death-rate.

Births.

Excess
of Births.

1885
1880
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1895

345,030
304,511
382,973
401,044
415,498
423,217
436,185
450,000

8,599
9,297
10,041
10.293
10,394
9,731
10,099

25 lier 1000

23 ' '

9,872
10,484
11,5.37
12,330
12,870
11,9.50
12,294

1,273
1,187
896
2,043
2,470
2 225
2,195

XXVII. The Map of Rome engraa^ed ox Marble under
Severus and Caracalla. — Under the pontificate of Pius IV.
(1559-65), while the architect Giovanni Antonio Dosio da San
Geminiano was excavating at the foot of the back wall of the

' Including the Campagna and the floating population.

MAP OF ROME ENGRAVED ON MARBLE 95

church of SS. Cosma e Damiano, he found ninety-two pieces of
marble slabs, upon which was engraved the map of the city, re-
stored and rebuilt by Severus and Caracalla after the fire of Corn-
modus. A few of the fragments were still fixed against the
wall (Fea, Miscell., lii. n. a), but the greater part had fallen on
the pavement of the Forum Pacis, each slab being broken into
many pieces. Had the discoverer taken care to collect them care-
fully, and to join the fragments of each slab there and then, the
value of the discovery would have been inestimable; but we have
reason to believe that tliey were tiirown negligently into baskets
and removed to the palace of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. Here
the pieces were sorted even more negligently, the larger and more
valuable were exhibited in the museum, the smaller bits were
thrown away in the cellars of the palace. Some years later a
mason made use of them in restoring the wall of the garden on
the river-side. Many of them were rediscovered in 1888 when
that garden wall was demolished to make room for the Tiber
embankment. (See Notizie degli Scavi, 1888, pp. .301, 437, 569.)
Pope Benedict XIV., to whose liberality the Capitoline museum
owes so many treasures, asked King Charles III. of Naples, the
heir to the Farnese estate, to ])resent the " Forma Urbis " to the
city. The reipu'st was complied with, and the fragments were
arranged in a somewhat disorderly manner on each side of the
staircase of the museum. The star which marks some of the
pieces tells another tale in the odyssey of the precious relics :
those pieces, having been lost in the journey from the Farnese
palace to the Capitol, were reproduced from original drawings in
Cod. vatic. 3839.

In the year 1867 Augusto Castellani and Effisio Tocco tried
fresh excavations in the garden of SS. Cosma e Damiano, and
they were rewarded by the find of the celebrated jiiece containing
the plan of the Porticus Livia; (Fig- '58). In 18S'2 another piece,
containing the plan of the Vicus Vesta*, was discovered under my
sujiervision ; a third of no im})ortance in 1884.

Lastly, in 1890 the state undertook to make a final and exhaus-
tive search at the foot of the wall of the Templum Sacraj Ur-
bis, which led to no result, for reasons -which it would be out of
place to discuss. The origin of the plan may be briefly described
as follows : —

The last census of Rome, taken in strict accordance witli the
old rules, was beguii by Vespasian in a. d. 73, and finished two
years later. The Flavian dynastj% to use the expression of Sue-

9C GENERAL INFORMATION

tonius, had found the capital of the Empire " deformis veteribus
incentliis [the five of Nero] atque ruiniti [the disasters caused by
the factiou of Vitellius]."' A'espasian reorganized the city from
the material as well as from an administrative point of view : the
lands usurped by Nero for his Golden House were given back
to the people ; the burnt quarters rebuilt, on a new piano rcgolatore ;
the limits of the metropolitan district enlarged ; public projjerty on
the line of the Tiber, of the aqueducts, of the pomerium was re-
deemed from the encroachments of private individuals ; a new map
of the city was drawn, and the cadastre of public and private
property revised. These documents were deposited in a fireproof
building, an oblong hall 42 metres long, 25 metres wide, constructed
expressly on the west side of the Forum Pacis, between it and the
Sacra Via. On the epistyle, above the main entrance, the follow-
ing words were engraved : " [This building has been raised by]
Vespasian in his eighth consulshiji [a. d. 78]." The map of the
city, drawn in accordance with the last official survey and the re-
sults of the census, was exhibited on the side of the hall facing the
Forum of Peace. We do not know whether it was simply drawn
in colors on plaster, like the celebrated maps of Agrippa in the
Portico of Vipsania PoUa, or engraved on marble.

The city was again half destroyed by fire in the year 191, under
Commodus, the centre of the conflagration being precisely the
neighborhood of these archives. The house of the Vestals, the
jewelers' shops on the Sacra Via, the imperial warehouses for
Eastern spices (horrea piperataria), and the Forum and Temple
of Peace were leveled to the ground. The archives, surrounded
by this mighty blaze on every side, must have been turned into an
oven in spite of their fireproof inclosure, their bronze roof melted,
their contents injured by heat or by water.

Septimius Severus and his son Caracalla undertook, with the
reconstruction of the city, the reestablishment of the archives of
the cadastre, and, in memory of their work (which was begun in
A. D. 193 and completed in 211), they caused a new and revised
edition of the plan of the city to be engraved in marble and
exhibited in the same place, that is to say, on the front of the
building facing the Forum of Peace. The building itself, mag-
nificently restored and decorated in opus sectile (a kind of Floren-
tine mosaic), was dedicated under the name of Templum Sacrte
Urbis. It exists still in a good state of preservation, thanks to
Pope Felix IV., who, in 526, turned it into a church, under the
invocation of SS. Cosma e Damiano. The wall, on the marble

JfAP OF ROME ENGRAVED ON MARBLE

facing of which the plan of Rome was engraved, measures twenty-
two metres in length, fifteen metres in height, and is remarkably

Fig. 38. — The Fragment of the Marble Plan discovered by Castellani and Tocco in 18C7.

well preserved. There is a good drawing of it in Jordan's " For-
ma Urbis Romae," plate xxxi. fig. 1.

98 GENERAL INFORMATION

The orientation or meridian line of the phiii seems to have been
directed from the southwest to the northeast. Tlie scale, save a
few excejptions, seems to be 1 : 250.

References. — Bernardo Gamucci, Antickila di Roma, ed. 1580, p. 36. —
Pietro Bellori, Fi-cirjm. vestif/ii U. R. Home, 1073 (2d edition, 1773). — Effisio
Tocco, Annul. Inst., 1807, p. 409. — Trendelenburg, Annul. Inst., 1872,]). 75. —
Ik'inrich .Jordan, Forma Urhis Romce Regionum XIV. Berlin, Weidniann,
1874. — Anton Elter, Be Forma U. R. dvque orbis antiqui facie. Bonn, J8!)l.
— Christian Hiielsen, Mittheil. des Archaeol. Instituts, 1889, p. 79; and Bull.
arch, com., 1893, p. 130. — Otto Richter, Gottingcn gelehrten Anzcirien, 1892, p.
130; and Toj>or/raphie der Stadt Rom, 1889, j). 3.— Gio. Battista I'ininesi,
Anfichitd romane, vol. i. tav. 2-6.

XXVIII. The Burial of Rome. — The question most often
asked by persons not well acquainted with the details of the down-
fall of Imperial Rome is, " How came the city to be buried under
a bed of earth to a dejith which ranges from five to sixty-five
feet?" Tlie question is more easily put than answered. The
accumulation of modern soil depends upon so many causes, great
and small, that it is very difficult to bring them all together and
set them before the student in the proper light.

To begin with, I will relate a personal experience which took
place in 1883-84. during the excavations made by my late friend
Luigi Boccanera, in the villa of Q. Voconius Pollio at Marino, the
ancient Castrimcenium. AVe had been wishing for years to try an
excavation in virgin soil, where no one should have disturbed the
strata of the ruins corresponding to the pages of history. Here
all chances were in our favor, because the Villa Voconiana, so rich
in works of art, had not been destroyed by fire, or by earthquake,
or by the violence of man, but had been left to decay by itself,
piece by piece and atom by atom. The palace, moreover, contained
but one floor, the ground floor, no suspicion of staircases leading
to upper stories having been found anywhere. Now, as the posi-
tion of the building was such that the strata of its ruins could
not have been altered by the action ot water or atmospheric forces,
and the volume of the same ruins could not have been either aug-
mented or diminished, it was easy to calculate, with almost mathe-
matical precision, Avhat is the material prodiict of the crumbling
of a Roman house.

The results of the careful calculation are these. A noble Roman
house, one story high, produces a stratum of loose material and
rubbish one metre, eighty-five centimetres high ; or, in other words,
a building about ten metres high, crumbling down under the cir-

THE BURIAL OF ROME 99

cunistances wliicli caused the ruin of the villa of Voconius PoUio,
produces 1.85 cuV)ic metres for each sqiuire metre of surface.

Now if a building of very modest proportions lias created such
a volume of ruins, it is easy to inuigine what must have been the
results of the destruction of the private and public monuments of
ancient Rome.

At the beginning- of the fourth century after Clirist, Rome, as
we have just seen, contained ■10,002 tenement-houses, 1790 palaces,
not to speak of a thousand public buildings like thermaj, temples,
basilicas, theatres, amphitheatres, circuses, porticoes, etc. The
height of these editices was always considerable, sometimes exces-
sive. Strabo mentions a law made by Augustus against the raising
of private houses above seventy feet. Trajan tried to reduce the
maximum to sixty feet. Tertullian describes the liouse of a Feli-
cles as reaching the sky. Houses built in the phiin of the Cii'cus
Flaminius against the Capitoline hill reached the platform of the
Temple of Jupiter, and enabled tlie followers of Vespasian to
take the place by storm from tlie Vitellians. The palace of Sep-
timius Severus at the Septizonium towered fully seventy meti'es
above the arena of the Circus Maximus ; the pediment of the
Temple of the Sun rose eighty metres above the Campus Martius.
Considering that hardly the ten thousandtli ])ortion of this mass
of buildings has escaped destruction, all the rest liaving crumbled
into dust and rubbish, we cannot wonder that ancient Rome should
now lie buried so deep. If the Foruju of Trajan, excavated by Pius
VII. in the heart of the nuxlern city, was not cleaned or swept
once a week, as is the case now, at the end of each year it would
be covered by an inch of dust, by one hundred inches at the end of
a century ; and I speak of matter accumulated there simply by the
action of rain and wind. But if the Forum of Trajan should be
selected by the living generation as a receptacle for the daily refuse
of the city, its disappearance would take place in a few years : and
this has been the case with the Forum Romanum, the Coliseum,
the Forum Augustum, the Palatine, the Vicus Patricius, and so on.
At all events, the increase of the Roman soil begins witli the age
of the Tarquins, and with the drainage and filling up of the Vela-
bra. An inscription discovered at the first milestone of the Appian
AVay (Corpus, vol. vi. n. 1270) describes how the steep incline
leading from the river Almo to the Temple of INIars had been made
easy by the removal of large masses of earth. The ruins of the
buildings destroyed by the great fire described by Livy (xxiv. 47)
were leveled on the spot, and the pavement of the Forum Boarium

100 GENERAL INFORMATION

and of the surrounding streets was at once raised several feet.
Horace (Sat. i. 8; v. 15) describes how Augustus and Maecenas
caused the burial-grounds of the Esquiiine to be covered with
oreat masses of earth, and a public park laid out on their site.
While building in 1877 the sewer of the Coliseum along the Via
di S. Gregorio, we discovered the city of the time of Nero buried
under the ruins of the fire of a. d, 65. Here also the level of the
streets was raised at once several feet. Frontinus (i. 18) says that
the seven hills had gained in altitude : " colles excreverunt rudere."

The 700,000 or 800,000 cubic metres of earth and rock removed
by Trajan to make room for his forum were laid over the public
cemetery between the Via Pinciana and the Via Salaria (Salaria
Vetus and Nova). The batlis of Trajan and Titus are founded on
the remains of the Golden House of Nero ; the baths of Caracalla
on the remains of many edifices, of w^iich the engraving on the
next page (Fig. 39) represents a small section.

Diocletian began the construction of his own thermfe by demol-
ishing two temples and many other public or private buildings to
the extent of 136,000 square metres. The products of the demoli-
tion were heaped up in a hillock 20 metres high in the neighbor-
hood of the present railway station. The threshold of the arch
built by Augustus over the Via Tiburtina for the transit of the
Marcia, Tepula, and Julia lies three metres below the threshold of
the gate (Porta S. Lorenzo) built by Arcadius and Honorius in
402 (Fig. 31). These figures give us a yearly average of 1\ milli-
metres of rise for the surrounding district, during the 406 years
which elapsed between Augustus and Honorius. The inscriptions
engraved on the same gate of S. Lorenzo describe, among the
works undertaken by Honorius toward the strengthening of the
fortifications of Rome, the removal of the ruljbish accumulated
along the line of the walls (" egestis immensis ruderibus;" see
p. 73).

I have sometimes discovered four different buildings lying one
under the other. The mediaeval church of S. Clement was built
in 1099 by Paschal IL above the remains of another basilica built
seven and a half centuries earlier. This latter rests upon the
walls of a noble patrician house of the second century after Christ,
under w'hich the remains of an uirknown Republican building are
to be seen.

When the new Via Nazionale was cut in 1877 across the Aldo-
brandini and Rospigliosi gardens, on the Quirinal hill, we met,
first, with the remains of the Baths of Constantine ; then with the

THE BURIAL OF ROME

101

remains of the house of CLaudius Claudianus ; thirdly, with the
house of Avidius (Quietus ; and histly, with some coustructions of
early reticulated work.

Fig. 39. — The Remains of a Private House discovered under the Baths of Caracalla by
G. B. Guidi, ISOT.

These proofs, which T have quoted at random from monuments
and writers, show that before the fall of the Empire the ground

102 GENERAL INFORMATION

rose in the same way on the hills and on the plains. However,
after the barbarian invasions, twelve out of the fourteen quarters
(7-eyiones) of the city having been abandoned and turned into
farms and orchards, the rise of the hills diminished, and that of
the valleys and plains increased, at a prodigious rate ; a fact which
can be explained, to some extent, by the natural fall of materials
from the heiglits, and by the action of atmospheric forces. The
greatest difference between ancient and modern levels which I
have yet ascertained in Rome is 72 feet. It was found in ex-
cavating the inner courtyard of the house of the Vestals at the
foot of the Palatine hill. The foundations of the northeast
corner of the new Treasury buildings were sunk in 1874 to a dei:)th
of 41 feet, before the stratum of debris was passed through. The
foundations of the house which forms the corner of the Via
Cavour and the Piazza dell' Esquilino were sunk likewise to a
depth of 53 feet. At that level the remains of some baths, built
by Njeratius Cerialis, were discovered, with statues, busts, bronzes,
inscriptions, etc.

The rise of the hills after the fall of the Empire was absolutely
artificial. I mean to say that if there was a rise in the level of
the soil, it was the work of man, and as a consequence of the
building of palaces, churches, and villas. I shall here quote a
curious illustration of the theory I am trying to explain. The
soil which covers (or rather covered) the northern half of the pal-
ace of the CcBsars, and more especially the palaces of Germanicus,
Tiberius, Caligula, and Domitian, has not been created wholly by
the crumbling or destruction of those palaces, but is mostly soil
removed from the low lands of the Campus Martius to the top of
the I'alatine hill by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, when digging
the foundations for his palace and for the church of the Gesix.
After remaining there for nearly three centuries, the great mass
of material has again been removed, and carted away into the
valley between the Aventine hill and the cliurch of S. Balbina, in
order that the remains of the Impe-ial buildings should be laid
bare. The district stretching between the Porta Pia and the
Porta Salaria has been lately raised to a considerable height with
the soil extracted from the foundations of the Treasury buildings
and of the royal mews. Without quoting any more instances, I
wish only to observe that, if these cases were not known, how
could we explain the unexpected rise of the places above named,
on the Quirinal and on the Aventine?

AVhen we consider that the archa-ological stratum, the forma-

THE BURIAL OF ROME 103

tion of wliicli I have tried to describe, is at least nine square miles
in extent, we wonder liow it has been possible to excavate, and
search, and actually sift it, since the Renaissance of classical
studies. Yet this has actually been done.

During my long experience of Roman excavations, and especially
since the building of the new city began in 1871, about four square
miles have been turned up. Leaving out of consideration works
of art and objects of archaeological interest, found scattered here
and there in small secluded spots — mere crumbs fallen from the
banqueting - tables of former excavators — I have found thi-ee
places only of any considerable extent, which had absolutely es-
caped investigation.

The fii"st is the district now occupied by the Central Railway
Station, on the border line between the Quirinal and Viminal
hills, excavated during 1871 and 1872. It was occupied in classic
times by a cluster of private houses built in the so-called Poinpeian
style. It seems that, being threatened by a conflagration, their
inhabitants had collected hurriedly all their valuables and most
precious works of art, and heaped them up in confusion in a hall
opening on a side street, which they considered as a comparatively
safe place. The roof of the hall, however, caught fire, and in its
fall carried down the walls in such a way as to shelter the heap
of bronzes and marbles placed in the middle of the pavement.
We discovered the place in February, 1871, and were able to re-
move to the Capitoline Museum the artistic bronze furniture of
two or three Roman houses, the marketable value of which was
calculated at about £6000.

The secotul virgin spot was discovered on Christmas Eve, 1874,
near the southwest corner of tlie Piazza Vittorio Emmanuele, on
the site of the llorti Lamiani (gardens of ^Elius Lamia), which
had been incorporated by Caligula into the Imperial domain.
During the previous days we had been excavating a portico, 200
feet long, with a single line of fluted columns of giallo antico
(yellow Numidian marble) resting on pedestals of gilded marble.
The pavement of the portico was inlaid with Oriental alabaster,
and the walls were covered with slabs of a certain kind of slate,
inlaid with festoons and groups of birds and other delicate de-
signs in gold leaf. At the foot of the wall, but concealed from
view, ran a water-pipe, with tiny jets, two feet distant one from the
other, which were evidently used to keep the place cool in summer.
At the northern extremity of the portico the floor sank into a
kind of chasm, at the bottom of which we discovered, during that

104 GENERAL INFORMATION

memorable eve, a bust of Commocliis, under the attributes of
Hercules, the most elaborate piece of work which has been found
in Rome in our time ; another bust of the same Emperor, of
smaller size ; a statue of the muse Polyhymnia ; a statue of the
muse Erato ; a statue of the Venus (Lamiana) ; two statues of
Tritons ; a bust of Diana ; and several other works of art, such
as legs, arras, and heads formerly set into bronze draperies. (See
Book IV. § xxiv.)

The third and last spot which we have been the first to investi-
gate since the early Renaissance is the southern half of the house
of the Vestals. However, as I have given a minute account of
this charming discovery in chapter vi. of my " Ancient Rome," it
is needless to enlarge upon it here.

I must mention two particulars which explain to some extent
our success in bringing to light, almost daily, new monuments
and works of art and curiosity. The first is, that the pioneers
of archaeological research, that is to say, the excavators who pre-
ceded us, have stopped in many cases at the wrong level. Find-
ing mosaic and marble pavements, or pavements of streets and
squares, they thought they had reached the end of their under-
taking, and turned their energy in other directions. From what I
have said about the superposition of Roman buildings, it is easy
to see how wrong they were. Here also I must be allowed to quote
a personal experience. Tn 1879, when the new boulevard connect-
ing the Piazza Vittorio Emmanuele with the Porta Maggiore was
cut (Viale Principe Eugenio), we discovered a portion of the
palace of Licinius Gallienus, already excavated by Francesco
Belardi and Giovanni Battista Piranesi more than a century be-
fore. These two men, having gone as far down as the level of
the drains running under the pavements, considered their task
finished, and all hope of further discoveries vanished ; and yet
under those pavements and those drains lay buried at a great
depth nine columbaria, particularly rich in cinerary urns, inscrip-
tions, and objects of value. The columbaria are designed and
their contents illustrated in the Bull. arch, com., 1880, p. 51, pis.

"I '-'•

The second remark refers to the foundation walls built with
fragments of statuary, to which very little attention was paid by
early excavators. The value of this mine may be estimated from
the following facts. In 1874 a bath was discovered near the
church of SS. Pietro e Marcellino, from the foundations of which
we extracted 95 statues, busts, torsos, basins of fountains, pieces

THE BURIAL OF ROME 105

of columns, and l)as-reliefs. In December, 1873, the group of Her-
cules capturing the mares of Diomedes, now in the Palazzo dei
Conservatori, was found broken in 72 pieces in a wall near S.
JMatteo in Merulana. Three thousand fragments of sculptured
mai'bles, and 130 inscriptions or pieces of inscriptions were discov-
ered likewise in 1873 in the substructures of the gardens of Prse-
textatus on the Esquiline. Consult " Monografia archeologica,"
Rome, 1878, vol. i. p. 40.

BOOK II

THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

I. Hints to Visitors. — The Palatine hill is the j^roperty of
the Italian nation, with the exception of the southeast corner,
which belongs to the Barberini. The first portion rescued from
private hands was the Vigna Nusiner, which the crown of Russia
gave up to Pius IX. in 1851 in exchange for some works of art.
The same pope purchased the Vigna Butirroni in 1852, the Vigna
del Collegio Inglese, formerly Ronconi, in 1862, and the Vigna de'
Benfratelli in 1866. In 1860 Napoleon III. bought the Farnese
gardens from the house of Naples, and began regular excavations
under the management of the late Comm. Pietro Rosa. After
the fall of Napoleon in 1870, the national government redeemed
this portion of the hill, and took possession of the convents of
S. Bonaventura and the Visitation (Villa IMills) and of their gar-
dens. The latter convent is still inhabited by the nuns, while
that of S. Bonaventura is partially occupied by the Guardie degli
Scavi.

The Palatine is under the management of the ]\Iinister of
Public Instruction, represented by a local board, or Ufficio degii
Scavi. The excavations may be visited every day : entrance fee,
one lira, which is not charged on Sundays. Artists, professors, and
students of archaeology are exempted from the fee, on application
to the Ufficio degli Scavi. The restrictions on photographing
are most complicated, the heads of tlie various boards having dif-
ferent views on the subject.

The Palatine cannot possibly be studied in one day : two days
at least are required to become acquainted, in a certain degree,
with the labyrinth of ruins. A modest literary preparation is
needed, to lessen the difficulties of the task, and also a know-
ledge of the main lines of the map of the hill. Many students
on their first attempt come away more discouraged by the intri-
cacies of the topography of the Palatine than pleased with the

HINTS TO VISITORS 107

beauty of its ruins. They have been hurried through so nuiiiy
palaces, — those of Augustus, Tiberius, Caliguhi, Doiuitian, Seve-
rus, — they have crossed so )nany luills, cryptoporticoes, stadiums,
galleries, basilicas, passages, cellars, etc., that they feel sometimes
inclined to give the thing up as liopeless. Yet the fundamental
lines of the residence of the Cajsars are simple, and can be under-
stood and remembered even by non-professional men. The main
points are these : —

I. The Palatine hill originally was almost square in shape, each
side measuring about 4.30 metres in length. The addition of the
palace of Septiraius Severus at the southern corner, raised on an
artiticial platform, the foundations of which are level with the
bottom of the valley, altered the shape from square to trapezoid.
The fall of the Imperial buildings and the work of human hands
have changed the abrupt cliffs into slopes, and given the whole
place a new aspect. Vegetation and cultivation have done the
rest, by uprooting and crushing and splitting enormous masses of
masonry, which, mixed with earth brought from afar, and leveled
into flower or vegetable beds, have covered the rocky foundation
of the hill with a layer of rubl)ish from 0 to 67 feet thick. They
have hidden from view some of its historical features ; for instance,
the valley between the Velia (by the Arch of Titus) and the Circus
IMaximus, by which the Palatine was divided into two summits —
the Cermalus on the noith, the Palatium on the south. In its
present form the hill measures 2080 metres in circumference, and
is 51.20 metres above the sea ' and 32 above the level of modern
Rome.

II. The platform of the hill was entirely occupied by the palaces
of the Cfesars, with the exception of a space 175 metres long and
106 wide, at the west corner (above S. Anastasia), whei-e some relics
of Kingly Rome were preserved down to the fall of the Empire.

III. The Palatine was selected for the Imperial residence by
Augustus, who built over the space now called the Villa Mills
(convent and garden della Visitazione — Domus Augustana).

IV. Tilierius, born probably in the house afterwards owned by
Germanicus, and still existing in good condition, built a new wing,
the Domus Tiberiana. in the centre of the Cermalus, connecting
it with that of Augustus by means of underground passages which
are still visible (Orti Farnesiani).

V. Caligula extended the house of Tiberius over the remaining
portion of the Cermalus in the direction of the Forum (Orti Far-
nesiani— Domus Caiana).

1 Bv S. Bonavenfura.

108 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

VI. Nero occupied the southeast corner (Villa Barberini) over-
looking his artificial lake. After his death and after the suppres-
sion of his Golden House, the plot of ground was converted by
Domitian into the gardens of Adonis (Horti Adonea).

The Flavians began to give a unity of plan and architecture to
the existing sections of the palace, raising new structures in the
free spaces by which they were separated. The valley across the
hill was filled up to the level of the platform of the Cermalus,
and upon it were built the state apartments (^des Publica^).
The house of Augustus, destroyed by the fire of Titus, was rebuilt
in harmony with its surroundings ; a Stadium ' (Vigna Ronconi,
del Collegio Inglese) and a garden, Horti Adonea (Vigna Bar-
berini), were added.

Hadrian and Antoninus satisfied themselves with keei^ing the
property in repair, as proved by the bricks inscribed with the
names of their kilns, which are found everywhere. Hadrian's
principal work — as far as we know — is the Exhedra of the
Stadium (Vigna Ronconi, del Collegio Inglese).

Septimius Severus, after repairing the damages of the fire of
Commodus (191) added an immense range of buildings on the
edge of the hill facing the Ctelian and the Appian Way. A
section was occupied by the Imperial Thermae, called in later
documents Balneum Imperatoris, while the front of the palace,
decorated with many rows of columns, received the name of Sep-
tizonium (Vigna del Collegio Inglese). The same Emperors
brought a large volume of water from the Cfelian, crossing the in-
tervening valley with a viaduct 36 metres high and :J00 metres long,
remains of which are seen in the Vigna de' Benfratelli. The
channel ended with a' reservoir or piscina on the site of S. Bona-
ventura. Other additions are attributed to Severus Alexander and
Heliogabalus (Diajtje Mammseiana, Templum Heliogabali, etc.),
which have not yet been identified with any of the existing
ruins.

Such is the classic topography ot the hill in its main lines.
With the help of the plans annexed (Figs. 40, 41) the visitor
hardly needs that of a cicerone or of a f/uardin degli scavi to
make himself at home on the Palatine, or to find his way through
th6 ruins and investigate each section, either by itself or in its rela-
tion to the other wings of the ^Edes Imperatoripe.

I must confess, however, that it is impossible to suggest to the
student any itinerary which shall combine the topographical and
1 Oil the correctness of this denomination see § xxi.

o
cc
o

u-
o

C/3

•^ *=i a w -1 3

HINTS TO VISITORS

109

chronological interest of the buildings. These are scattered over
the hill in a desultory way. Once across the entrance gate, for
instance, the visitor is confronted by three monuments, the Mu-
rus Romuli, the Templum Divi Augusti, and the chui'ch of S.
Teodoro, separated by a gap of seven and fourteen centuries re-
spectively. The area containing the hut of Romulus is siuTounded
by buildings of the first century of our era. It is impossible to
cross over from the Domus Augustana to the Tiberiana, as re-
quired by chronology, without crossing the oiKiav Aofxinavov, which
is three quarters of a century later. These things being so, I have
given preference to the chronological order ; in other words, my
description is written for the use of visitors not pressed for time,
who can devote three or four days at least to the systematic and
rational study of the Palatine. Those who have no leisure can
adopt the following itinerary, the best I can suggest, taking the
various sides of the problem into consideration : —

Ut (/((^ — Walls (if Roimilus, de-
scribed § viii.

Altar of Aiiis Locutius, § ix.

Steps of Caciis, § x.

Hut of Romulus, § xi.

Temple of the great Mother of
the Gods, § xiii.

Paternal house of Tiberius (and
Germanieus) § xvii.

House of Tiberius, § xvi.

House of Caligula, S xviii.

'2cl day — Temple of Augustus,

§ iv.
Clivus Victoria', § vi.
Palace of Domitian, § xix.
Palace of Augustus, § xv.
So-called Stadium, § xxii.
Palace of Septimius Severus,

§ xxiii.
House of Gelotius, § xxvi.
S. Teodoro, § vji.

The visitor must bear in mind one fundamental rule : that
many of the existing ruins belong to the substructures, and cel-
lars, and underground rooms built for but one purpose, — to level
the undulating surface of the hill, and to extend and protract the
level platform over the slopes, and even over the plain below, as is
the case with the Palace of Severus and the Septizonium. Tlieir
plan is most irregular ; they have no light and very little ventila-
tion ; architecturally speaking they count for nothing. This is
the reason why existing maps of the Palatine are so difficult to
understand : we find marked in them with the same degree of im-
portance apartments of state and crypts which were destined
never to be seen. I have tried to remedy this defect in Sheets
xxix. and xxxv. of the " Forma I'rbis,"' where the apartments
alone are depicted in full, while the substructiu-es are simply
traced in outline.

110 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

SiJecial permission is required to visit the Palace of Augustus
(see § xv). The Convent of the Visitation and its grounds are
practically inaccessible. The Vigna Barberini and the chapel of
S. Sebastian are opened on payment of a fee (see § xxxiii).

The Palatine during the winter months ought to be visited in
the morning ; during the spring and autumn in the afternoon.
There is always a great, and sometimes a dangerous, difference of
temperature between the sunny and the shady side of the ruins.
The Palatine, with its groves of ilexes and green lawns and glori-
ous views, affords a delightful promenade even to those who are
not attracted by archasological interests.

General References. — Carlo Fea, Miscellanea antiquaria, vol. i. p. 86,
n. 7G ; p. 87, ii. 77 ; p. 223, n. 5, 6, 7. — Francesco Biauchini, Jl palazzo dei
Cenari, opera postunia. Verona, 1738. — Luigi Kossiui, I sette colli. Rome,
1827. — Constantino Thon and Vincenzo Ballanti, II palazzo dei Cesari.
Rome, 1828. — De Agostini and Broiiferio, // 7>a/a2zo dei Cesari. Vercelli,
1871. — Ipi>olito Ruspoli, Avanzi e ricordi del monte Palatino. Rome, 1846. —
Fabio (iori, Gli edijizi palatini dopo (/li nltimi scavi. Rome, 1807. — Heinrich
Jordan, I)ie Kaiseipalciste in Rom. Berlin, 1868. — Wilhelm Henzen, Annali
dell' Jnstit'uto, 1865, p. 346 ; 1866, p. 161. — Pietro Rosa, Relazione sulle sco-
perte archeoloyiche neyli unni 1871-72, p. 75 ; and also Plan et peintures de la
maison de Tihere, mai, 1869. — Viseonti and Lanciani, Guida del Palatino, con
plant a delineata da A. ZangoUni. Rome, Boeea, 1873-93. — A. Preuner, I)as
Pdlatiinn in alten Rom. Greifswald, 1875. — Gaston B(jissier, Promenades ar-
cheolof/iqves. Paris, 1882. — Constantino Maes, Tojiograjia storica del Palatino.
Rome, 1883 (unfinished). — ^Deglane, Le palais des Cesars (in Gazette archeo-
logique, 1888, pp.124, 145, 211). — Otto Richter, Die dlteste Wolinsiitte des Ro-
misclien Volkes. Rome, Berlin, 1891. — John Henr^' Middleton, The Remains
of Ancient Rome, vol. i. chap. iv. \). 158. — Rodolfo Lanciani, II palazzo mag-
giore (in Mittheihmgen, 1894, p. 1). Forma Urhis Romxe, plates xxix., xxxv. ;
and Ancient Rome, chap. v. p. 106. — Christian Huelsen, Untersuchungen zur
topographie des Palatins (in Mittheihmgen, 1895, p. 3).

TT. The Origin of the Palatine City. — Two discoveries
have illustrated from a new point of view the origin of Palatine
Rome, that of the city of Antemn?e, and that of the Terramara di
Fontanellato.

According to tradition ^ Antemnte was a flourishing settlement
when a colony of Alban shepherds occupied the Palatine. The
distance between the two places being less than four miles, and
their bartering trade very active, as they were located on the same
(left) bank of the Tiber and on the same road (Salaria Vetus), we

1 Antonio Nibby, Analisi dei dintorni di Roma, vol. i. p. 161. — Dennis,
Cities and Cemeteries of Etrnria, vol. i. p. 44. — William Gell, Topography of
Rome, p. 64. — Smith's Diction, geograph., vol. i. p. 139.

THE ORIGIN OF THE PALATINE CITY 111

may assume that manners, habits, stage of civilization, etc., were
about the same in Rome and Antemu;\?. Antemna; died a sudden
death a few years after the foundation of Rome. It is evident,
therefore, that a search made on the site of tlie former corresponds
practically to a search made in the lower strata of Kingly Palatine.
The search w^as made in LSS2-8;J, while the hill %vas crowned by a
fort.^ The facts ascertained were these (see Fig. 42).

The city occupied the platform of the hill, protected by cliffs
or rivers (ante amnes) on every side, except where a neck or isth-
mus connected it with the tableland (Monti Parioli, Villa Ada).
The natural strength of the site had been increased by a wall
built of blocks of local stone, each two feet (0.59 metre) high and
three (0.89) long. There were three gates, one leading to the river
to the springs, one to the highroad (Salaria), the third to the
cemetery and pasture-lands. The Antemnates lived in round or
square huts, witli a framework of timber and a thatched roof, the
site of which is nmrked by a hard-trodden, coal-colored floor within
a ring of I'ough stones. Their public buildings, like the temple
and the curia, were of better style, and probably all of stone.
The cattle were driven at night into the inclosures or sheepfolds
adjoining each hut. The area inclosed by walls was therefore
much larger than was required by the number of inhabitants.

In times of peace the Antemnates di'ank from the springs at
the foot of the hill ; for times of war they had provided them-
selves with cisterns and wells under shelter of the fortifications.
One of tlie wells still in use is 54 feet deep ; and one of the cis-
terns, covered by a triangular roof (destroyed 1883), could hold
5000 gallons of water (see Fig. 4o).

The civilization of the Antemnates when their city ceased to
exist was in the '• bronze " stage. One third of their pottery and
domestic ware was of local make, and baked in an open fire ; the
rest was of Etruscan importation. There were traces of the
stone period, such as arrow-heads and lance-spears of polished
flint, clay beads, and fragments of the roughest kind of pottery.

This description answers word for word to that of the city on
the Palatine. Here again we have the isolated hill pi'otected by
cliffs, by water, and by a circuit of walls ; the neck of the Velia
connecting it with the tableland of the Esquiline ; the gate lead-
ing to the river and springs (j-omanuki), tliat leading to the pas-
ture fields and cemeteries (»n<r/o;//rt),and a third descending to the
Vallis Murtia ; the wells and cisterns within the fortifications ;

1 Notkk degli Scai-i, 1882, p. 415 ; 188.'5, p. 10 ; 1886, p. 24 ; 1887, p. fi4.

112 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

and other sxich cliaracteristics of the age. The description we
have of the Casa Romuli, kept in its prehistoric simplicity as late
as the fourth century after Christ, shows that the Romans, like the
Antemnates, lived in straw huts ; and furthermore, the discoveries
made in the cemeteries of the Viminal and of the Esquiline prove

Xcvft-C o^ or-ovAA-fc^

Fig. 43. — Reservoir at AntenniB.

that their civilization was in the " bronze " stage. (See Ancient
Rome, chap. ii. p. 26). Roman archaic pottery was half of local
(or All)an) make, half of Etruscan importation. ^ Cattle were
driven in at night, each family being provided with an ugellua and
a sheepfold.

What has been said about Rome and Antemna? must be ai^jjlied
to other contemporary settlements like Collatia, Fidense, Labicum,
Ardea, Gabii, Veil, etc., the sites of which, excepting that of Veii,
have not yet been scientifically investigated. They were all
organized on the same system : their walls inclosed an area ten
times as large as that required by the number of inhabitants,
becanse they shared it with their flocks, and each hut had its own
sheepfold and orchard. The highest and strongest point within
the walls was occupied by the citadel, containing the temple, the
curia, the ajrarium, and the reservoir for rain-water. After the Ro-
man conquest the scanty surviving population was concentrated on
the site of the citadel, and the rest of the city cut up into farms
and allotted to Roman colonists. The Roman municipia of Veii

1 Tlie ajTliaic KeinirjAia {liscovt'red in tlie cemeteries of Kintjly Rome were re-
moved in Septemher, 1895, from liall No. H. of the Museo Mnnieipale al Celio
to two rooms of the I'alazzo dei Conservator!, wliere the want of light and
space makes their examination almost impossible.

THE ORIGIN OF THE PALATINE CITY 113

(Piazza d' Aniii), of Fidenaj (]\lonte di Villa Spada), of Gabii
(farmhouse of Castiglione) are all that mark the place of the
respective citadels of the time of the independence, while the area
once inclosed by the city walls was put into cultivation. For this
reason it is almost impossible to recognize the site of the huts and
the extent of the piece of ground pertaining to each of them ;
in other words, to decide whether the old Sabine, Etruscan, and
Latin cities in the lower valley of the Tiber had a cardo and a
decumamis, and were planned, according to the principles of the
agrimetutlo, in square plots or heredia.

My opinion is that they were not. In the excavations made in
1889 within tlie walls of Veii,^ I have seen traces of primitive
habitations which were not "oriented," and the same thing was
observed at Antemnaj. It is to be regretted that no proper search
has yet been made in the lower strata of the Palatine, where the
excavations stop generally at the wrong level, leaving most, of
the problems unsolved;'^ but I believe that the shepherds who
occupied the hill in 7o'-i n. c. had no idea whatever of gromatic or
astronomical rules of their own, so that the sulcua primi(/<iilus had
to be traced according to a foreign rite. Rome and its neighbor-
ing settlements on eitlier side of tlie " Rumou " must luive looked
like tlie temporaiy villages which the peasants of the present day
build in tlie Pomptiue marshes or in the Agro Romano, when they
come down from their mountains for the cultivation of the maize-
fields. The prototy))e of these prehistoric contemporary settle-
ments is the village constructed every autumn on the borders of
the (now drained) lake of Gabii, at the twelfth milestone on the
Via Pra>nestina, and inhabited by a half-savage tribe of two
hundred mountaineers. I never fail to take our students to this
remarkable village during the university term, to give them an
object-lesson more impressive than any which can be found in the
whole of the Canipagua.

The populations of the Terramare,^ on the contrary, seem to

1 Described in Not'tzie. Jer/li Scavi, 1889, pp. 10, 29, GO, 15-t, 238.

2 GoettVmg (Geschich 1 1' der Riiiaiitch. Shidtsveru-., ])p. 49, 202, 235) believes
the Sacra Via to have bet-n the (lecumaiiit.'i marking tiic boundary between the
Sabine and tlie Roman city; but the Sacra Via of those days was but a iriud-
in;! path oiitsidv the PahUine, to whioli alone my considerations refer.

3 The name Terramnrn is a corruption of that of Terra mama, given till
1862 to the special kind of earth, rich in organic qualities, which the peasants
of upper Italy dug from prehistoric stations, and used as a fertilizer. When
Pigorini and Strobel began their study of these stations they adopted the
corrupted name " Terraniara " in preference to "Terra niarna," to avoid the
confusion which the epithet "marl" might produce in scientific treatises.

THE ORIGIN OF THE PALATINE CITY

115

have been faiuiliHr with the principles of the ai/rimctatin. The
startling discoveries made by Pigorini in the terramara at Cas-
tellazzo di Fontanellato, in the province of Parma, are described
in the following papers : —

Nolizie dcfjll Scam, 1889, p. 355; 1891, p. 304; 1892, p. 450; 1895, p. 9.—
Monumenti inedili Accademia Lincei, vol. i. (1889), ]). 123. — Bullettino di
paleoelnolo(/in iUdinna, vol. xix. (1893), tav. viii. — Friedricli von Duliii, Ntue
Heidelberi/er Jahrbiichtr, vol. iv. (1894), p. 143.

Fig. 46. — Plan of the Terramara di Foutanellato.

This primitive settlement of immigrants in the " Poebene " ^
forms an oblong 280 metres wide between the parallel sides, 480
metres long, and covers an area of lOi hectares (195,525 square
metres). Its fortified inclosiu-e comprises a ditch (A) 100 Roman
feet wide, 12 deep (oOX'^-50 metres), and an affger or embankment
(B) formed with the earth excavated from the ditch, sloping
towards the water and supported by a perpendicular palisade (C)
on the inner side. The adoption of a trapezoid form in the Ter-
ramare, instead of the square or parallelogram, is explained by
1 The valley of the Po and of its affluents.

116 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

the fact that the sharp coi-ner (D) always faces the river (E), from
which the supply of water for the ditcli is derived, so as to divide
it into two equal streams, which meet again at the outlet (F).
There was but one gate, approached by a bridge 30 metres wide
(G), the axis of which is in a line with the cai-do or high street
(H, I), cutting the village in two halves. The quarter (K) west
of the high street was entirely occupied by huts built on palisades ;
on the opposite side we find the central portion occupied by a
square of solid gi-ound (L) 100 metres long and 50 wide, protected
by a ditch 30 metres wide and 6 deep, and approached by a bridge
(M) on the line of the decumanus. This foi'tified terrace represents
the lemplum in the primitive sense of the word, or, to use the
expression of Helbig, the fundamental idea of the arx of Italian
towns and of the prcetorhmi of Roman camps. There were two
cemeteries outside the fortifications (N, O), also inclosed by a ditch
and made accessible by a bridge. The cremated remains of the
Terramaricoli were kept in clay urns, placed in rows on a wooden
platform supported by palisades. •

If the reader refer to the map of the Palatine, Fig. 44, he will
find that nature had done for early Rome nearly all the work
that human labor and ingenuity had done at Fontanellato. Tlie
marshes of the two Velabra and the pond, which Nero transformed
afterwards into the lake of the Golden House, represent the water
defenses ; the neck of the Velia i-epresents the bridge ; the cliffs
answer for the embankment. Other points of resemblance are the
square form, the angle facing the stream (Nodinus?) which fed
the greater Velabrum, and the area of about seventeen hectares.
The Romans, however, did not wait long to make themselves fa-
miliar witii the at/rimctatio and to adopt the pes (.297 metres),
wiili its multiples and fractions, as the standard national measure.
When Servius Tullius built the great agger for the protection of
the city on the east side, he simply copied in the minutest details
the fortifications of the Terramare. The agger of Servius com-
prises a ditch exactly one hundred pedes wide and thirty deep ; an
embankment made with the earth of the ditch, sloping towards the
city and supported by a wall on the outside. The three gates, Col-
lina, Viminalis, and Esquilina, were approached by bridges. The
ground on the other side of the ditch was occupied by cemeteries.

The history of the Palatine, from the foundation of the city

1 In the campaign of last summer (189.5) Pigorini discovered side streets
parallel with the crn-du and the decwmanus. The Terramara, therefore, was
divided into regular squares or parallelograms.

THE ORIGIN OF THE PALATINE CITY 117

to that of the Empire, is not known. At the time of Tarquinius
Priscus (616-578) it was still honored by the kingly i-esidence, a
casa of more elaborate construction than the ordinary citizens'
huts, placed near the Porta Mugonia and the Temple of Jupiter
Stator (Solinus, i. 24). The hill was not above the reach of fever,
even after the drainage of the lesser Velabrum, accomplished by
Tarquinius by means of the Cloaca Maxima, as the worship of the
Dea Febria was never intermitted, and her temple and altar were
not abandoned for centuries after. Beside the Fever's shrine, there
were others to the Dea Virii^laca, a protectress of domestic peace ;
to Orbona, the evil genius of blindness ; an altar to Aius Locutius
(described § ix.) ; temples to Victory (§ vi.) ; to the great Mother
of the Gods (§ xiii.) ; and to Jupiter I'ropugnator (§ xiv.).

Towards the end of the Republic the Palatine became one of
the most aristocratic quarters of the city, resorted to by the great
orators, lawyers, and political men of the age on account of its
proximity to the Curia, the Rostra, and the Forum. The follow-
ing palatial residences are recorded in classic texts : —

1. House of M. Fulvius Flaccus, destroyed by order of the senate,
after his execution for his share in the conspiracy of the (iracchi.
The sjiace left vacant, area Flacciana, was occupied soon after by a
wing of the Porticus Catuli.

2. House of Q. Lutatius Catulus, consul b. c. 102, with Marius,
with whom he gained the victory over the Cimbri, near Vercelbv.
With his share in the spoils of war he enlarged his house and con-
nected it with a portico, the Porticus Catuli, where thirty-one flags
taken from the enemy were exhibited.

3. House of ]\I. Livius Drusus, tribute of the plebs in is. c. 91,
the great i-eformer of social laws, whose murder by Q. Varius was
immediately followed by the social w'ar, which his policy would
have averted. The house was inherited by Crassus the orator, who,
having ornamented its impluvium with four columns of Ilymettian
marble, the first ever seen in Rome, was nicknamed the "Palatine
Venus." Cicero bought it in December, 62, for a sum correspond-
ing to $155,000. The peristyle was shaded by six marvelous lotus-
trees, which perished one hundred and seventy years later in the
fire of Nero. It passed afterwards into the hands of C. JNIarcius
Censorinus, another great orator and Greek scholar ; of L. Corne-
lius Sisenna, annalist historian, translator of the IMilesian tales of
Aristides ; of A. Ca^cina Largus, probably the author of the book
on the " Etrusca Disciplina;" and finally it was absorbed into
Caligula's palace.

118 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

4. House of Quintus Cicero, near the one of his brother Marcus,
but lower down the slope of the hill. It was wrecked and burnt
to the ground by Clodius.

5. House of Clodius, the notorious enemy of Cicero, — composed
of two portions : one belonging to Cicero himself, which he had
bought at the time of the banishment of the orator ; one to C.
Seius, which he had obtained by poisoning the owner on his refusal
to sell. The domus Clodiana was nuignificent, and commanded a
glorious view.

6. House of M. ^milius Scaurus, stepson of Sulla, the dictator,
perhaps the richest of all Palatine residences. When Cicero was
restored to the possession of his own, he tried to take a revenge on
the usurper Clodius by raising one or two floors so as to cut off the
view of which his enemy was so proud. To avoid this danger
Clodius purchased the palace of Scaurus for a sum of $4,425,000 (?),
having already spent $655,000 on his owai.

All these residences were in the district of the Clivus Victoria?,
at the corner of the hill commanding the Forum, and must have
disappeared when Caligula extended the Imjierial Palace as far as
the Nova Via and the Temple of Castor and Pollux.

7. The paternal house of Augustus, in the lane called the " Oxen-
heads," at the east corner of the hill. (See § xv.)

8. The liouse of Quintus Hortensius, first the rival, then the
associate of Cicero ; a man of immense wealth, and endowed with
a memory so retentive that he could repeat the auction-list back-
wards on coming out of sale-rooms. He was also the first to in-
clude peacocks in Roman dinner menus. Hortensius's residence
was purchased by Augustus, and inclosed in the Imperial Palace
together with

9. The liouse of L. Sergius Catilina. Both were on the edge of
the hill facing the Circus Maximus.

It is now time for us to enter the precincts of the famous hill,
and examine one by one the remains which bear evidence on so
many points of the political and monumental history of the
" queen of the world."

III. ViGXA NusiNEK. — The strip of land between the north-
western cliffs of the Cermalus and the Vic us Tuscus, by which we
enter the excavations, is known to topographers by the name of
Vigna Nusiner, and is represented in the following fragment of the
marble plan of Rome, published by Trendelenburg in the " Archae-

VIGXA YUSLVER 119

ologische Zeitung,"' LSTo, vol. xxxiii. p. o'J ; and by myself in the
" Bull. com. arch.," vol. xiii. (1886), p. 159. (See Fig. 47.)

The Clivus Victorise, cut in the live rock along the foot of the
cliffs, bounds the triangular space on one side, the Templum Divi
Augusti on the second, the Vicus Tiiscus on the third. The ground
contains, besides, the Springs of Juturna, the Murus Romuli, the
Altar of Aius Locutius (the Lupercal), and the church of, S.
Teodoro. All these monuments and landnu\rks, excepting the
temple and the church, belong to the earliest period of Roman
history, so tliat we could not begin our visit to the Palatine in
more regular order.

The Vigna Nusiner has l)een excavated oftener than any other
part of the Palatine, and yet we know very little about it for want
of proper accounts. The Frangipani owned it at the end of the
fifteenth century, together with a fortified house called " Lo Palazzo
de Frigiapani." I have found two deeds in the records of that
family : one dated January 21, 1510, by which the brothers Giam-
battista and Marcello Frangipani give permission to the rector of
the church of S. Lorenzo ai JVIonti to open cavain seu fossuram
lapidum in their vineyard iiix/a stDictuin Theodoruin ; the second,
dated October 23, 1535, relates to a controversy between Antonino
Frangipani and Camilla Alberini over the produce of the excava-
tions which a stone-cutter named (iiuliano was making at that time.

In 154ft-15.5() tJie contractors for the sup]>ly of Iniilding materials
to S. Peter's found the pavement of the Vicus Tuscus, the pedestal
of the statue of Vortumnus, and the remains of a temple with
columns, capitals, entablature, and a frieze ornamented with griffins
and candelabra. The plunder was so considerable that no fresh
excavations were attempted for a lapse of a century and a half.
The land was turned into a kitchen-garden, famous for its arti-
chokes. In a contract of ^larch 11, 16-10, the spring hai'vest of
them is valued at 110 scudi.

A new search was made in 1720, between the churches of S.
Teodoro and S. Anastasia. It led to the discovery of a portico
with pilasters of travertine (one of the three marked in the frag-
ment of the marble plan), of pieces of columns, and of a row of
rooms filled with objects of metal and scoria}, to which Venuti
gives the name oi foiulerln /xilatina, or imperial brass-foundry.

Giovanni Battista Visconti opened the ground for the fifth time
at least ; but his progress was stopped by the house of Naples
under the plea that he was undermining the walls that held up
the Farnese gardens.

THE TEMPLE OF AUGUSTUS 121

111 June, 1845, the antiquarian Vescovali, acting on behalf of
the Emperor of Russia, who had purchased the Vigna for the sake
of excavating, discovered the remains of the Domiis Gelotiana
(see § xxvi.) ; in December, 1846, he came upon those of the
Murus Romuli ; and in April, 1847, upon the remains of a private
house on the Vicus Tuscus, decorated with columns of porphyry
and giallo antico.

In 18G9 Pius IX. laid bare the pavement of the Clivus Victoriae
and tlie alleged site of the Porta Romanula. The Italian govern-
ment began the last and general excavation of the place in 1876
(and again in 1884), but the work was soon given up without
results.

On entering the Palatine by the S. Teodoro gate we are
confronted with the Augustseum on the left, with the Clivus
Victoriae and the Fons Juturnae opposite the gate, with the chui-ch
of S. Teodoro and the Murus Romuli on the right.

IV. Templum divi Augusti (Temple of Augustus). — Tlie
temple in honor of the deified founder of the Empire was begun
by his widow Livia and by Tiberius, his adopted son, and com-
pleted by Caligula. Domitian restored it after the fire of Titus.
Pliny (xii. 19, 42) describes, among the curiosities of the place,
a root of a cinnamon tree of great size placed by Livia on a
golden plate, the sap of which was hardened into globules every
year ; and also a famous picture of Hyacinthus by Nikias the
Athenian, which Augustus had brought from Alexandria. The
plan and design of the building are different fi-om the recognized
type of a Roman temple, the front being on the long side of the
parallelogram instead of the short. The shape seems special to
the Augusta?a, perhaps on account of the large number of statues
which had to be placed on the suggestum opposite the door, the
deified Emperor being generally surrounded by other members
of the family. The temple is mentioned in connection with
Caligula's bridge, which is supposed to have crossed the valley of
the Forum at a great height, so as to enable the young monarch
to walk on a level from his palace to the Temple of Jupiter on the
Capitol. The bridge never existed in the strict sense of the word.
Caligula passed from roof to roof of the intermediate buildings,
spanning the gaps of the streets with temporary wooden passages.
Suetonius and Flavins Josephus mention among these buildings,
first, the Templum divi Augusti, then the Basilica Julia. There
is no doubt, therefore, that these noble ruins, placed between the
Basilica and the Emperor's palace, belong to the Augusta3um.

122 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF T FIE PALATINE

The back wall of the temple, the murus post cedem diri A ugusti ad
Minervam, was used for the posting of state notices and imperial
decrees. Two attendants of the Augustaeum are mentioned in
epigi'aphic documents: a Bathyllus, fpr/Z/Hw.s' tcmpll diri, Angusti el
divce Augustce quod est in Palatium (Corpus, vi. n. 4222), and a

ATRIVA\ VE-STA&

Fig. 48. — Plan of the Aiigustaeum.

T. Flavins Onesimus, cedituus templi novi divi A ugusti (n. 8704).
The temple has been excavated at least five times. I have found
in the state archives an Act of October 2, 1526, by which Jacopo
de' ]\Iuti gives back to a poor widow, Lucrezia Collino, the caution
deposited by her before she began the excavations in the garden
of S. Maria Liberatrice.

Pirro Ligorio was able to draw the plan of the structure about
1549, in consequence of the excavations described in Book III.

THE SPRINGS OF JUT URN A 123

§ xxi. (See Middleton, The Remains of Ancient Rome, vol. i.
p. 275, fig. 35.)

In 1702 a contractor named Andrea Bianchi gained permission
from Sister Costanza di Santacroce, abbess of the monastery of
Torre de' Specchi, to search for building materials within and
near the temple. He found the church of S. Maria Antiqua,
that is to say, tliat inner hall of the Augustajum which had been
adapted to Cliristian worship at the end of the fourth century,
and dedicated to the Virgin Marj% in opjiositiou to the worship
of Vesta, the headquarters of which were on the other side of the
street. There are two desci-ijitions of the find : one by Galletti in
the Vatican Library (Chron. miscell. xxxiii.) ; another by Valesio
in Cancellieri's '' Solenni possessi," p. 370. The church was level
with the floor of the Augustpeum, and ended with an apse, with
frescoes representing the Saviour and some saints, among which
was prominent the figure of Paul T. (757-767), with the square
nimbus and the legend Sanctisa. Paulus Romanus Papa. The fres-
coes on the walls of the aisles represented scenes in the life of the
Saviour, with texts from the Ciospel in Greek and Gothico-Latin
letters. The figure of the crucifix sliowed the feet nailed apart.
Benedict XIV. ordered the church to be roofed over and kept open
for inspection, but the order was never executed.

In 1735 Antonio Vanui excavated the plot of ground near the
temple known as the Caprareccia.

The last excavation took place in 1885. It was discovered then
that the church of S. Maria Antiqua l)ehind the Augustseum had
been put in communication with the Augusta^um itself, by cutting
an irregular passage through the partition wall seven feet thick.
The sides of the passage were covered with figures of saints painted
in the eleventh century, with the name appended to each of them :
those of the Eastern Church, led by Scs. Basilivs, on one side ;
those of the Western, led by Scs. Benedictvs, on the other.
The two images are connected with the Basilian and Benedictine
brotherhoods and convents which at that time flourished on the
Palatine (S. Cesario in Palatio and S. Sebastiano in Pallara).

LiTERATURK. — PiiTO Ligorio, Bodleian MSS., fol. 33. — Henry Parker, The
Foi'uin Romanum, London, 187li, plates 21 and 24. — Notizie degli Scavi, 1882,
April, pi. 16. — Henry Middleton, The Remains of Ancient Rome, 2d ed., vol.
i. p. 275, fig. 35. — Gio. Battista de Rossi, BuUetiino cristiano, 1885, p. 143.—
Pagan and Christian Rome, p. 101.

V. FoNS JuTURN.E (the Springs of Juturna). — The Temple of
Augustus is built against the live rock of the Palatine, masses

124 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

of which appear all along the Clivus Victorian, above and under
the pavement of the street. Opposite the gate by which we have
entered the excavations, and i-ight under the west wall of the
temple, the rock is perforated witli wells and channels, cut for
the purpose of reaching and regulating the springs with which
the lower or quaternary clay strata are here saturated. This is
the celebrated Fons Juturnte, placed by Dionysius, Ovid, Florus,
etc., at the north corner of the Palatine, the waters of which, on
reaching the plain, expanded into a deep pond (jn-ofunda palus)
called the Lacus Curtius. Here the apparition of the Dioscuri
took place, to announce to the Romans the victory of Lake Regil-
lus : they were seen washing and watering their hoi'ses '• at the
spring which made a pool near the Temple of Vesta," ^ between it
and the temple raised to the celestial messengers themselves in
memory of the event. The jiond was drained after the opening
of the Cloaca IVIaxima, and the only trace left of it was a well
and a puteal inscribed with the name of divtvr ; perhaps the
very one now preserved in the Vatican Museum, Galleria Lapi-
daria, No. 164.

Although the accumulation of modern soil and ruins conceals
these springs from view, they have never ceased to flow, and to
find and force their w^ay towards the Cloaca Maxima. In Cres-
cimbeni's " History of S. M. in Cosmedin," p. 14, we find this
report by Angelo Maffei, dated September 25, 1715: "I remember
to have seen, in my early youth, the ground open and sink into
a chasm fifty cubits deej:* near the three columns [of Castor's
temple], and a mass of water rush at the bottom of it." The
accident, caused by the erosion of subterranean springs upon the
earth, must have happened at other times, because this corner of
the Palatine was known in Middle Ages under the name of " the
Hell " (T Inferno) ; hence the name of the church above, S. Maria
lUiera nos a poenis Inferni. The traditional adventure of Q.
Curtius may have originated from a like phenomenon in the
fourth century u. c.

Another . powerful jet of water appeared in May, 1702, in the
excavations of the church of S. Maria Antiqua mentioned above ;
another in March, 1810, at the foot of the three columns of the
Castores. In 181 S Carlo Fea found water all around the temple,
to the depth of 8.84 metres under the pavement of the Vicus
Tuscus. I remember myself having seen the same place suddenly
inundated in January, 1871, when the excavations had come
1 Plutarch, Curiol., 3; Dionysius, vi. l-'i, etc.

THE CLIVUS VICTORI.i: 125

accidentally in contact with one of the underground channels.
The works were suspended for a week or tW'O, until the waters
were given an outlet towards the Cloaca Maxima.

References. — Rodolfo Lanciani, Bull. Ins!., 1871, p. 279; and / comen-
tarii di Frontino intorno le acque e yli acquedottl. Rome, 1880, p. 13. —
Giuseppe Tommasetti, Bull. Inst., 1871, p. 137. — Francis Nichols, The Roman
Forum, p. 74, Loudon, 1877.

VI. The Clivus Victoria. — The Porta Romanula, or " river
gate " of the Palatine, could be approached from two sides : f i-om
the Forum by a short cut, or steps, used by women in bringing
lip their load of water from the pool of Juturna ; and from the
Velabrum, by a carriage-road cut along the base of the cliff at a
steep incline. The road is marked (IV) in the fragment of the
marble plan. Fig. 47. It was named from an altar of Victory
dating from the earliest days of the city, and transformed into a
temple 293 b. c, by the consul Lucius Postumius. On April 4, 203,
the meteoric stone from Pessinus, which the Romans called the
Great Mother of the Gods, was deposited in this sanctuary, pend-
ing the erection of the temple described in § xiii. Eleven years
later Cato the Censor dedicated a shrine Victorke Virgini, by the
side of the temple, and this is the last mention we find of it in
the classics. The temple was discovered by Bianchini in 1728, on
the edge of the hill above the road, inside a court or refievos, be-
tween the palaces of Tiberius and Caligula. There were splendid
fragments of its marlile decorations : a frieze ornamented with
the emblems of a naval victory ; columns of giallo belonging to
the peristyle, capitals, bases, the pedestal of a statue (the same
one, probably, dedicated by Cato the Censor in 192) ; and two
pieces of the inscription of the temple itself, which commemorate
a restoration by Augustus : —

imp . CAESAR . dIvI . F . aedein . r/cTORiAe . refec.

These fragments were kept for a long time on the spot, near the
Uccelliera ; in 183(3, however, they were dispersed: a few went
to the Museo Xazionale, Xaples ; others to the Palazzo Farnese,
Rome.

On ascending the Clivus Victoriag from S. Teodoro towards the
Porta Romanula, we pass on the right the remains of thirteen
rooms, the w-alls of which were of opus qundratum, strengthened
at a later period with opus laterltitim. These remains, dating
from the last century of the Republic, are attributed to the Porti-

126 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

cus Catuli. No trace is left of the private palaces of Catulus,
Scaurus, Clodius, Cicero, etc., described in § ii.

References. — Rodolfo Lanciani, II temino della Vittoria (in Bull. arch,
com., 1883, p. 206). — Christian Huelsen, MittheiL, 1895, pp. 23, 269.

VII. The Church of S. Teodoro. — This round structure
belongs to the cycle of Byzantine cliurches and chapels by which
the Palatine was surrounded after the fall of the Empire, and is
dedicated to an officer who suffered martyrdom at Amasea in the
Fontus during the persecution of Maximian. The present rotunda
dates from the time of Nicholas V. (1447-55), except the apse
and its mosaics, which seem to belong to the time of Hadrian I.
(772-795). The level of the church, halfway between that of the
Vicus Tuscus and that of the modern road, shows how rapid has
been the rise of the soil in the last four centuries. The pieces of
serpentine with which part of the court is paved M^ere discovered
at the time of Clement XI. in the marble wharf of the Emporium
at La Marmorata.

VTTI. MuRUS RoMULi. — These venerable remains of the
primitive fortifications, which we meet with on turning the west
corner of the hill towards S. Anastasia, are built of blocks of
local tufa, the work of Etruscan masons, as is shown by the way
the stones are placed, lengthwise in one tier and crosswise in the
next above. The tufa of the walls is characteristic of all works
done in Rome before Servius Tullius, such as the fortifications of
the Arx in the garden of the Aracoeli, and can easily be identified
by means of the black scoriaj which it contains, the texture and
softness of which resembles that of charred wood. This special
tufa, hardly fit for building purposes, was quarried on the spot
from the lautumke near the Temple of Jupiter Propugnator.
Other quarries have been discovered in the very heart of the Capi-
toline hill and at Fidenaj (Villa Spada, Via Salaria).

The walls of the Palatine were discovered on January 26, 1847,
but the government commissioners, Visconti, Canina, and Grifi,
did not at once realize the importance of the find. They call
them in their official report " a monument built of large blocks of
tufa, forming two wings 20 palms long, with an arch cut in the
live rock between them." The walls are visible at two other
points, near the gardener's house and near the so-called Domus
Gelotiana. Students wishing to get more information about
these early fortifications of the Palatine may consult —

THE ALTAR OF AIUS LOCUTIUS 127

Thomas Dyer, HUtvi >j of the City of Rome, Loudon, 1865, p. 14. — Rodolfo
Lanciani, Sulle mura t parte di Sevvio (in Ann. Inst., 1871, p. 41). — Visconti
and Lanciani, Guida del Palatino, Rome, 1873-93, p. 73. — Heinrich Jordan,
Topographle, vol. i. p. 17-2. — Otto Richter, Ann. Inst., 1884, p. 189.

Behind the wall and under the northwest corner of the hill
there is a reservoir of water, a rough design of which is given by
:Middleton. Formerly it was deep under ground, the water being
drawn from above by means of a well of conical shape ; but a land-
slip having carried away a portion of the cliff behind the wall,
the reservoir can now be entered on a level. There is a basin or
cavity right under the well towards which slope all the galleries
of the cistern, so as to allow the besieged to draw the last di'op iu
case of water-famine.

IX. The Altar of Aius Locutius. — This remarkable altar
was fir.st noticed by Nibby in 1838, on the spot where we see it
standing now, on absolutely modern ground, thirty feet at least
above the ancient level ; but, although not in .^itu, it must have
been found not very far off. Xibby and Mommsen consider it as a
restoration made in 125 b. c. of the one raised in the Infima Xova
Via — in the "lower new street " — behind the Temple of Vesta,
in memory of the mysterious voice which, in the stillness of night,
warned the citizens of the approach of the Gauls. The voice was
attributed to a local genius, whom the people named Aius Loquens
or Locutius ; but, as Roman religion refrained from mentioning
in public prayers the name and sex of unknown local genii, lest
the ceremonies should be vitiated by a false invocation, or else
the true ifame of these tutelary gods should be made known to the
enemies of the commonwealth, so the altar raised in memory of
the event bears the vague dedication —

SEI • DEO • SEI • DEIVAE ■ SAC(rum) —

"sacred to a Divinity, whether male or female." Servius de-
scribes likewise a shield dedicated on the Capitol to the Genius
of Rome with the legend —

GEXIO VRBIS ROMAE SIVE MAS SIVE FEMIXA.

The altar of Locutius was i-estored by Caius Sextius Calvinvis,
mentioned twice by Cicero as a candidate for the praetorship
against Glaucias in 125 b. c. The monument cannot fail to im-
press the student on account of its connection with one of the
leading events in history, the capture and burning of Rome by
the Gauls in ;390 b. c.

128 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

Keferences. — Antonio Nibby, Analisi . . . del dlntorni di Roma, vol. i.
p. 321. — Corpus Inscr. Lat., vol. i. n. 632, p. 185. — Pagan and Christian
Rome, p. 72. — Carlo Pascal, Bull, com., 1894, p. 188.

The corner of the hill above the Munis Romuli, towards which
we are now ascending by a winding path shaded by ilexes, contains

THE STEPS OF CACUS 129

monuments dating from the early days of the city. I have said
already that the Palatine was divided into two summits, the " hill
of the Twins," or Cermalus, on the north ; the " hill of Pales," or
Palatium, on the south. This last is entirely covered by Imperial
buildings, which have swept away or concealed whatever monu-
ments there were left of the Kingly and Republican ages, while
on the Cermalus the later constructions have avoided the ground
made sacred by tradition or by existing remains of bygone days.
This historic space overlooking the Velabrum, left free by the
Cffisars, measures 175 metres in length, and 106 metres in depth,
and contains the steps of Cacus, the hut of Romulus, the old stone
quarries, the Temple of the Great Mother of the Gods, and the
Temple of Jupiter Propugnator. A section of the space is re-
presented in Fig. 49 (on the opposite page). The background is
formed by the arched substructures of the palace of Tiberius, the
foreground by the steps of the Temple of Cybele, and by the
foundations of the fifth chapel of the Argsei, which Yarro places
apiul (edem Romuli. The space is strewn with architectural frag-
ments from the temple of Cybele.

X. ScAL^. Caci (Steps of Cacus). — We have seen before that
the Palatine city could be entered from three sides : through the
Porta Romanula from the northwest, by the Mugonia from the
nortlieast, and hy the Steps of Cacus from the side of the Circus.
At a very early date these steps took the place of a dangerous
path connecting the primitive village with the spring and cave of
Faun Lujaercus.^ They are called fiaOfiovs Ka\rjs aKTrjs (" the steps
of the beautiful shoi'e ") by Plutarch, and Scahv Caci by Solinus.
The first name owes its origin to the picturesque inlet formed by
the waters of the greater Velabrum near the Lupei'cal ; the other

1 The I^iipercal opened at the fodt of the cliffs hetween the Velabniiii and
the Circus iMaximiis in the direction of S. Anastasia. Its entrance was once
shaded by the Ficiis Riiniinalis, markinir the spot where tlie cradle containing?
the infant twins had been washed asiiore by the flood. The meniorj' of the
miracnlons event was perpetuated by a bronze group of Tuscan workmanship,
representing the twins nursed by the wolf. This is probably the same as the
one preserved in the Conservator! Palace and restored b}' Guglielmo della
Porta (?), The Lupercal was discovered in the first half of the sixteenth cen-
turj'. Ulisse Aldovrandi, quoted by Fea (AfisrelL, i. 206, n. 4), says; "There
was a tenii)le of Neptune (of Faun Lupercus) built by the Arcadians near the
('ircus Maxinuis, an<l I itelieve it to be the same chapel discovered lateh'
under the cliffs of the Palatine, near S. Anastasia, all encrusted with marine
shells."

130 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

to the hilt of a certain Cacus, a friend of Hercules, who lived near
the Ara Maxima, on the shore of the same pool. The Scalse were
shaded by the sacred cornelian tree, believed to be the spear of
Romulus, which, being thrown by the hero from the opposite
heights of the Aventine, had struck the ground with such force
as to take root and grow up again into a beautiful tree.

Two historical events are connected with the steps. First,
their restoration by Caligula, in consequence of which the roots of
the cornelian tree were cut off and the tree was killed ; secondly,
the escape of Vitellius in December, 69, when, after the capture of
the city by the generals of Vespasian, he fled " per aversam partem
Palatii " to the Aventine. The steps have nearly all disappeared,
but the walls of opus quadratum, hy which they were inclosed, and
the pavement of the upper landing are tolerably well preserved.
There was a gate at the top of the ascent, the site of which is
marked l)y travertine jambs.

Refekences. — Liidwig Preller, Die Regionen, p. 152. — Karl Bethmann,
Btdl. Inst., ]852, p. 40. — Ampere, Histoire romainc a Rome, vol. i. p. 292. —
Wecklein, Hermes, vol. vi. p. 193.— Otto Richter, Annali Inst., 1884, p. 189.
— Wolfgang Helbig, Guide, vol. i. ii. 018, p. 459.

XI. Casa Romuli (the hut of Romulus). — Tradition tells us
that at the top of the steps just described there was the hut of
Faustulus the shepherd, in which Romulus and Remus had found
shelter and food and received their early education. History
shows that down to the middle of the fourth century after Christ
the hut had been preserved in its primitive shape by the periodi-
cal renewal of its thatched roof and wooden framework. The
foundations of this " memorial " are still in existence. They are
made of blocks of yellowish granular tufa, and form a parallelo-
gram ;30 feet long and 17 feet wide. When discovered in 1872,
the parallelogram was perfect, but the quality of the tufa is so
soft, and the blocks are so easily disintegrated by atmospheric
agencies, that it will soon disappear, unless protected by a roof.
The cut (Fig. 50) represents a prehistoric hut, modeled from nature
by an Alban shepherd, about the time of the foundation of Rome.
It was discovered in the necropolis of Alba Longa by Carnevali in
1817, and it is now owned by Michele de Rossi.

We might consider this clay hut-urn ^ as a perfect model uot

1 References. — Michele-Stefano de Rossi, Annali Inst., 1871, p. 242,
tav. v. — Pigorini and Lubbock, Notes on Hut-urns, p. 11. — Rodolfo Lan-
ciani, Ancient Rome, chap. i.

THE HUT OF ROM CL ITS

131

only of the Casa Romiili (also called Tiigurium Faustuli), but
also of the other Casa Romuli on the Capitol, sacred to his memory
as a hero and demi-god, of the focus of Vesta, of the chapels of
the ArgiBi, and other such prehistoric dwellings, which are all
described as vimine texti, stlpula tecti, and made de carina stramini-
husque. Their type was never forgotten : in the inscriptions of
Leila Marnia in Africa a tomb in the sliape of a casa or lugurium
is called " Domus liomula." (See Corpus, viii. p. 112o.)

Fig. 50. — Hut-urn from Alba Longa.

The foundations of the Casa Romuli are surrounded by other
remains of the Kingly period which cannot be identified. There
is a square mass of stones, with a gutter around the base, which
may possibly mark the site of the fifth sacrarium of the Arg?ei.
(See Fig. 49.)

References. — Scheidewin, P/((7o/o(7?<.«, vol. i. p. 82. — Liidwig Preller, Die
Rerjlonen, p. 180. — Francesco Cipolla, Rlristct di Filolor/ia, 1878, p. 47. — Hein-
rich .Jordan, Hermes, vii. p. 190; and Topographie, i. p. 292. — Theodor
Mommsen, Hermes, xiii. p. ."i27. — (iio. Battista de Rossi, Pirinte, di Rnmn,
p. 4. —Otto Richter, Topofiraphie, p. 100. — Notizie deyli Scavi, 1896, p. 291.

XII. The Old Stoxe Quakkies. — An underground passage

132 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

between the Temple of Jupiter Propugnator and the Palace of
Domitian, which can be entered by a slope under the coffee-house
of the Farnese Gardens, gives access to a network of tufa quarries
extending over an acre. They cannot be explored now on account
of their dangerous state, but I remember going over them in every
direction when they were first discovered in 1867. The section
which runs under the Temple of Jupiter is comparatively recent,
and must have been excavated by a vignaiuolo before the laying
out of the Farnese Gardens, or when these were again put under
cultivation in the first half of the last century. The section ap-
proaching the house of Germanicus and Tiberius is very ancient,
perhaps contemporary with the first colonization of the hill. There
is something impressive and solemn in the aspect of these old
lautumice, which at a later period were turned into a water-tank.
There were several wells communicating with the ground above,
but only one is kept open, at the turn of the street called (prob-
ably) " Victoria Germaniciana." The puteal or mouth of the well
is of modern restoration ; the shaft is ancient and lined with slabs
of Alban stone, with holes to make the descent into the reservoir
easy. A conical heap of terra-cotta ex-votos was found at the
bottom of this well. This find reminded us at the time of the
passage of Frontinus : " In the present abundance of water (brought
to Rome by eleven aqueducts) we have not forgotten the historical
springs from which drank our foi'efathers " (fontium memoria cum
sanctitate adhuc extat et colitur). Suetonius says that under Au-
gustus all classes of citizens (omnes ordines) threw ex-votos into the
well of Juturna. The Fontinalia, or Feast of Springs, was cele-
brated in Rome on October 13th. (Another well was found July
10, 1896.)

There are in this public space of ground two more monuments,
independent of the Palace of the Cpesars, which, although raised
long after the Kingly period, must be described before we enter the
Imperial grounds, — the Temple of the Great Mother of the Gods,
and that of Jupiter Propugnator.

XIII. ^Edes Magx.e Deum Matris (Temple of Cybele). —
Livy (xxxvi. 35) relates that during the second Punic war in 206
B. c. an embassy was sent by the senate to Pessinus, after consult-
ing the Sibylline books, which brought back to Rome a famous
relic, called (by Servius, Mn. vii. 188) the acux Matris Deum.
This was a small meteoric stone of siliceous texture, brown in
color, pyramidal in shape, set, instead of the face, in a silver

THE TEMPLE OF CYBELE loo

statue of Cybele. Great was the veneration of tlie Romans for
this image, and a temple was raised in its honor in 192 b. c,
rebuilt by Augustus in A. d. 3, after a fire. The phrase " ajdem
Matris Magna; in Palatio feci,'' which Augustus uses in his auto-
biograj^hy, has been interpreted as if tlie temjale was in the oppo-
site part of the hill called strictly " Palatium," but we must remem-
ber that the autobiography was written long after the name had
been assigned to tlie w'hole tenth region. i

The most noticeable event in the laistory of the sanctuary is the
sacrilege committed by Heliogabalus, who removed to his own
private chapel the great object of popular worship. (See Ancient
Rome, p. 127.) The description which Ilerodianus gives of it is
identical with that of Servius. " The stone," he says, " is large,
shaped as a cone, and black in color. People think it a stone
fallen from heaven," etc. When Bianchini excavated in 1725-30 the
imperi^;! chapel or lararium, he found " a stone nearly thi'ee feet
high, conical in shape, of a deep brown color, like a piece pf lava,
and ending in a sharp point." I have no doubt that it >vas the
celebrated " needle of Cybele." No attention was paid to the find.

The last mention we have of the Great Mother of the Gods
belongs to the end of the fourth century, wlien Nicomachus Fla-
vianus and a few surviving champions of polytheism tried to stir
up the old popular superstitions. During the revolution against'
Theodosius II., which ended witli the defeat of Eugeuius, Septem-
ber 7 to 9, 392, Nicomachus and his followers indulged in the
most faruitic display of long-forgotten pagan superstitions, like the
Isia, the Floralia, the Lustrum, and the Megalesia, the mysterious
worship of Cybele. After being baptized in blood, they carried
through the main streets of the city the chariot of the goddess
with lions of solid silver.

It is not certain whether the temple, the scattered remains of
which appear in Fig. 49, belongs to the Great INlother of the Gods,
because its columns and entablature are of Alban stone (peperino)
coated with stucco, and therefore cannot presumably be the work
of Augustus, who used only marble. I do not dare to express any
definite opinion on the subject, because thei'e are other circum-
stances in favor of the supposition which must be taken into
consideration. The first is the discovery made in January, 1872,
near the pronaos of the temple, of a semi-colossal statue of the
goddess (Fig. .il, p. 134). The statue is headless, but has been
identified by means of the suppedaneum or footstool which the an-
cients gave to Cybele as a symbol of the stability of the earth.

134 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

The second is the discovery of several altars inscribed with her
name, made at various times in this part of the Farnese Gardens.
The one marked No. 496 in vol. vi. of the " Corpus Inscriptionum "
was raised at the expense of three attendants of the temple, named

Fig. 51. -Headless Statue of Cybele, found near her temple on the Palatine.

Onesimus, Olympias, and Briseis. A second, No. 3702, came to
light in 1873 near the south wall of the temple. See also the in-
scription. No. .513, belonging to a statue offered to the g-oddess
by Virius Marcarianus, and the fragment in " Notizie degli Scavi,

1896, p. 186. .^ ^ ^ , -

There are about sixty fragments of columns, capitals, entabia-

THE TEMPLE OF CYBELE 135

tuiv, and pediment lying scattered in confusion, which, if properly
put together in their former jiosition, as Huelsen has done in
design (INlittheilungen, 1895, pp. 10-22), would make this temple
one of the most beautiful ruins of the Palatine. The foundation-
walls of the cella and pronaos are still intact. The statue itself is
lying aside, in a slanting position.

There is a valuable marble in the Capitoline museum connected
with the history of the temple, viz., an altar with bas-reliefs repre-
senting the ship on which the goddess came from Pessinus to
Rome, and the Vestal Claudia Quinta hauling it up the Tiber,
with her infula tied to the prow. There is written underneath :
" Matri Deum et Xavi-Salvife voto suscepto, Claudia Synthyche
d(ono) d(edit)." Maffei and Preller think that the surname of
Navisalvia was given to the "\'estal Claudia because she had
brought the ship safely to her moorings ; Orelli and ^Nlommsen
attribute it to the ship herself (Navis Salvia), or rather to her pro-
tecting genius (see Corpus, n. 495). The altar can be seen in the
gallery of the Capitoline museum, where it is used as a pedestal to
the statue No. 25 (Jupiter found at Antium).

Greek and Greco-Roman artists have always given Cybele a
type of majestic beauty. One of the finest representations of the
merciful goddess, " who gave f ruitf ulness alike to men and beasts
and vegetation," was discovered not long ago at FormitB (Mola di
Gaeta), together with the reiiuiins of her temple of the Ionic
order. The statue, which would have formed the pride of the
Naples museum, has been allowed to migrate to foreign lands.
When I stood before her the first time, and felt the influence of
her wonderfid beauty, I easily understood why she remained a
favorite deity to the very end of pagan worship in Rome. I am
sure it will please my readers to become acquainted with this won-
derful work of art known only to a privileged few (Fig. 52, p. 18f)).

Rkkerences. — Francesco Caiicellieri, Le setfe cose J'atali, Rome, 1812,
p. 22. — Visconti and Lanciani, Guida del Palatino, Rome, 1873, pp. 29, 134. —
Theodor Mommsen, lies gestae divi Aufjusti, 2d ed. 1883, p. 82. — Christian
Huelsen, llntersuckunf/en zur Topographie des Palatins (in IMittlieilimgen,
1895, p. 3). — Ancient Rome, p. 126.

XIV. ^Ede8 Iovis Propugnatokis IX Palatio (Temple of
Jupiter Propugnator). — Between the house of Germanicus and
the Nympha^um of the house of Domitian stands the platform of
a temple, the mass of which is built of concrete with chips of tufa
and silex, inclosed in a frame of opus quadratum. The temple,

136 THE RUJNS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

which is 44 metres long, and 25 wide, faces the southwest, but not
a fragment of its decorations has escaped the cinquecento lime-

Fig. 52. — The Cybele from Formise.

burners. Probably it was octostyle peripteral, viz. surrounded by
a colonnade which had 8 shafts in the front, 16 on the sides.
Rosa, who discovered the platform in 1867, identifies it with the

THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER PROPUGNATOR 137

Temple of Jupiter Victor, a lueniorial buildiug of the victory
gained by the Romans over the Samnites in 29-1 b. c. We prefer
to see in it the Temple of Jupiter Propngnator, connected with
the residence (schola colleyli) of a priesthood ranking in nobility
with that of the Qiiindecemviri, of the Arvales, and other kin-
dred religious corporations, of which the Emperor was a ile iure
member. The remains of a building in opus quadratum of the
late Republic, remarkably suited for the use of a scJiola, have
actually been discovered side by side with the teniijle itself.

Many fragments of the fasti cooptationum, or registers of the
elections to this priesthood, have been found, not in .situ, however,
but employed, after the prohibition of pagan worship, in the
restoration of the pavements of the Basilica Julia and of the
Senate-house. (See Corpus, n. 2004, 2009, etc.) They are all
worded this way : " In the year nine hundred and forty-two of
Rome," (a. d. 190) for instance, "under the consulships of the
Emperor Commodus, for the sixth time, and of Petronius Septimi-
anus, on the 1.5tli day of October, in the Temple of Jupiter Pro-
pngnator on the Palatine, Lucius Attidius Cornelianus has been
elected." Sometimes they add the name of the deceased member
whose place was vacant : •' Claudius Paternus cooptatus in locum
Attidi Corneliani vita functi " (a. d. 198).

On the top of the steps of the temple there is a fragment of
an altar inscribed with the words, " Domitius Calvinus, son of
Marcus, high priest, consul for the second time and [victorious]
general [has built or repaired or ornamented this building, or
raised this monument] with the spoils of war." (See Ephemeris
epigraphica, 1^72, p. 21").)

Cneus Domitius Calvinus, consul in .53 and 40 B. c, is the
gallant general of Julius Ca'sar who led the centre at the battle
of Pharsalos. Later he cari-ied on a successful campaign in Spain,
for which he was rewarded with the triumph in 86 b. c. With
the spoils of war — aurum cornnarium — he restored the Regia by
the house of the Vestals, as related by Dion Cassius (xlviii. 42).
The altar, tlierefore, has nothing to do with the Temple of Jupiter
Propugnator, having been found in January, 1868, at some distance
from it, in the excavations of the Forum Palatinum. It ought to
be put back in its place by the Regia. The four pieces of fluted
stone columns placed by Rosa at the top of the stairs belong like-
wise to another edifice, perhaps to the Temple of Cybele. Pirro
Ligorio pretends to have seen a fragment of the colossal statue of
the god, measuring eight feet from shoulder to shoulder. It was

138 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

sold by Cristoforo Stati to a stone-cutter named Leonardo Cieco
" per fame opere moderne." His statement (Bodleian MSS. p. 138)
deserves no credit.

Ekferences. — Corpus Inscr. Lat., vol. vi. p. 450, n. 2004-2009. — Adolf
Becker, Topograpkie, p. 422. — Ludwig Preller, Rum. Mythologie, p. 177.

XV. DoMus Augustan A (house of Augustus). — An irregular
opening made in March, 1893, through the left wall of the Stadium
(Fig. 53, BB.) leads — for the time being — into the house of
Augustus. This newly cut passage seems to be calculated to
mislead the visitor at once : it occupies the site of a staircase
connecting the two floors of the house, the remains of which were
likewise obliterated in 1893, leaving only the marks of the steps
against the side walls. The following plan (Fig. .53), although
defective in two or three points, which cannot be made good unless
the excavations are completed, will enable the visitor to find his
way without difficulty.

The Palatine hill, so near the Forum and the Capitol, the cen-
tres of Roman political and business life, had always been the
favorite place of residence with statesmen, eminent lawyers, and
orators, and wealthy citizens in general. Augustus made it the
seat of the Empire. Born near the east corner of the hill, in
the lane named " ad capita bubula," ^ he selected it again as the
Imperial residence, after the victory of Actium, which had made
him master of the world. The ambitious plan was not carried
into execution at once. He began, 44 b. c, by j^urchasing the
modest house of Hortensius the orator, the columns and pavements
of which were of common stone. After the conquest of Egypt in
28, he bought other property, including the house of Catilina.
The Imperial residence was then rebuilt on a larger scale and in
more becoming style, the whole estate being divided into three
sections. The first, from the side of the Velia, was occupied by
the Propylaia, the Temple of Apollo, the Portico of the Danaids,
and the Greek and Latin libraries , the middle section by the
Shrine of Vesta ; the last, on the side of the Circus, by the Im-
perial house.2 This magnificent set of buildings was crowded

1 "Ox-heads." The tomb of Metella is actually called " Capo-di-Bove "
from the ox-skiills of its frieze. The lane where Augustus was born was close
to the "street of the old Curife," ad Curias veteres.

•2 " Phoebus habet partem: Vests pars altera cessit — quod superest illis, ter-
tius ipse tenet " (Ovid, Frmf., iv. 951). References for the Temple of Apollo,
and the Portico of the Danaids: Rodolfo Lanciani, II tempio di ApnlUni- palatino
(in Bull. arch, com., vol. xi. ]SS;i, p. 185, pi. 17); and Ancient Rome, p. 109. —
Christian Huelsen, Miltheiluiifjcn, 1888, p. 296; and 1895, p. 28.

THE HOUSE OF AUGUSTUS

139

with the masterpieces of Greek, Tuscan, and Roman art, as mi-
nutely described in '• Ancient Rome," p. 109. The building of
a shrine of Vesta near the house was a necessity of state, since
Aus'ustus had been elected iiontifex maximus after the death of

CONVENT OF VISITATION

I IkH Mril il

o o oooeoo e qqooooo

COURT

ooooooooo ooooooo

■—1 r"-TT?^r~T

o
, ° ° PULVINAR

Fig. 53. — I'lau of the Doimis Aiigii.stana, Ground Floor.

140 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

^milius Lepidus in 12 u. c. On this occasion the old pontifical
palace was presented to the Vestals, to increase the accommodation
provided by theii- own.

The Domus Augustana was destroyed by the fire of Nero, with
the exception of the room in which the founder of the Empire had
slept for forty years. It was rebuilt by Domitian towards a. d.
85, never to suffer any more by the violence of man or at the hand
of Time, until the vandal hand of the Abbe Rancoureuil ruined it
in 1775. The Temple of Apollo and its libraries were destroyed
in the night, between the 18th and 19th of March, a. d. 363, the
fury of the flames being such that only the Sibylline books were
saved from the wreck. We hear no more of the monumental
group until the time of Fra Giocondo da Verona (f 1520), when
the beautiful ruins, set in their frame of evergreens, began to at-
tract the attention of architects and archaeologists. Dosio, Palla-
dio, Heemskerk, Ligorio, Panvinio have left important memoranda
of the state of the " palazzo maggiore " in the sixteenth century.
Palladio mistook the palace for a public bath — terme di palazzo
maggiore — but his plan is none the less important. I found it
in the Burlington-Devonshire collection and published it in the
" Mittheilungen " of 1894, plates i.-iii. Comparing the various
accounts, maps, drawings, sketches, acts of notaries, etc., of the
cinquecento, we gather the following information : —

The ground occupied by the Augustan buildings belonged,
towards the middle of the sixteenth century, half to Alessandro
Colonna, half to Cristoforo Stati. Duke Paolo IMattei purchased
both properties about 1560. We do not know whether Alessandro
Colonna had searched the grouiul : the two other gentlemen did.
They came across (and destroyed) the Propylaia, described by
Pliny (xxxvi. 4, 10); the Portico of the Danaids. described by
Propertius (ii. 31) ; and the Temple of Vesta. No mention is
made of the Temple of Apollo, unless we can consider as such
the notice given by Pietro Saute Bartoli (Memorie, n. 7) of the
discovery of a hiding-place inlaid with precious stones, where the
Sibylline books wereprobably kept. The Portico of the Danaids
numbered fifty-two columns of glatto antico, many of which have
been recovered from time to time, probably because they were
considered unfit for the lime-kiln. " On October 29, 1664," says
an eye-witness, "in the gardens of Duke :Mattei, a portico was
discovered of extraordinary i-ichness, with columns of giallo an-
fico. and two bas-reliefs representing Romulus, the Wolf, the
Lupercal, Faustulus, the Tiber, and other sulijects connected with

THE HOUSE OF AUGUSTUS 141

the foundation of Rome." Winckelmann speaks of two other
panels representing Dajdalos and Ikaros, and a young Satyr drink-
ing from a cup. A fifth, described by Matz, represents Theseus
and the Minotaur, a sixth Ulysses and Diomedes.

In 1728 Count Spada, who had bought the villa from the Mattel,
discovered seven rooms " ornamented with precious marbles, gilt
metal, stucco bas-reliefs on a golden ground, and arabesques." In
one of the rooms, which was used for bathing purposes, there was
a marble cathedra, and a basin of lead before it. The two columns
of oriental alabaster, which stood on each side of the cathedra,
were removed to the chapel of Prince Odescalchi in the church of
SS. Apostoli. Count Si>ada found also " several broken statues
of marble and bronze."

In 1825 Charles Mills found another column of yiallo 2.25
metres long, lying on a marble pavement, at a depth of 1.5G
metre. Other pieces of fluted shafts of giallo came to light in
1869 and 1877, in the excavations of the so-called Stadium, where
they had rolled down from the portico, together with the eighteen
or twenty torsos of the Danaids described by Flaminio Vacca
(Mem. 77).

In March, 1849, Colonel Robert Smith, who had succeeded
Charles Mills in the ownership of the grounds, destroyed a portion
of the Pulvinar (see Fig. 53), to make room for a carriage road
between the gate on the Via de' Cerchi and the Casino. In the
same year he discovered the drain connecting the Area ApoUinis
with the main sewer of the Vallis Murcia.

The blame for having destroyed to a great extent the house
of Augustus rests with the Frenchman Rancoureuil, who exca-
vated the Villa Spada in 1775, and sold even the bricks and stones
of the historical sanctuary to a stonecutter in the Campo Vaccino
named Vinelli. I have heard it related that the abbe was so
anxious to keep his proceedings secret, that besides preventing
any one front seeing the excavations by daylight (except his
friend Barberi), he kept a fierce mastiff to watch the place at
night. Roman archaeologists, however, did not give up the con-
test, and a young man named Benedetto Mori, an assistant of
Piranesi, volunteered to sketch the plan of the ruins coute qui
coute. He began by making advances to the dog, tempting him
with food, until after many nocturnal meetings the two became
so friendly that the beast helped the architect to accomplish his
mission. U appears from his designs — although rather imperfect
— that the front of the palace followed the curve of the Pulvinar

142 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

ox state balcony from which the games of the Circus were seen, and
tliat there were five windows on either side of the entrance door.
This door was still visible in 1829, but it is concealed now by the
gardener's house. Inside the building first came the atrium (A)
with a colonnade on each side, giving access to apartments of
elaborate shape and design ; farther on was the court of honor,
with a peristyle of 56 fluted marble columns of the Ionic order,
on which opened other private apartments. One of the most
elegant chambers was the sterquilinvum (CC), with three recesses
supported by finely carved brackets. Its pavement and walls were
incrusted with polychrome marbles ; of marble also were the
water-pipes connected with the basins. The lead pipes found in
other parts of the building bore the name of Domitian. No trace
seems to have been found of the tower or " belvedere " named
Syracuse or rexvSfpvov, to which Augustus retired when worn with
the care of governing the world. From this locus in edito, as
Suetonius calls it, he must have watched day by day the trans-
formation of the capital, which he had found built of bricks and
wanted to leave a city of marble. Just opposite the west windows
of the palace, his friend L. Cornificius was rebuilding with great
magnificence the old federal Temple of Diana on the Aventine,
and Augustus himself the three temi^les of Minerva, Juno Regina,
and Jupiter Libertas on the same hill. Turning to tlie other
points of the horizon, he could see the transformation of the
Campus ^lartius made by Agrippa and by himself, the Portico
and Temple Ilerculis Musarum built by jMarcius Philippus, the
Atrium Libertatis by Asinius Pollio, the Temple of Saturn by
Munatius Plancus, a theatre and a portico by Cornelius Balbus,
an amphitheatre by Statilius Taurus, and scores of other edifices,
masterpieces of architecture and museums of fine arts.

Of the Domus Augustana nothing except a few bare walls is
left standing, and three underground rooms of graceful design,
marked DDI) in the plan (p. 139). The shimmering light which
falls througli masses of ivy from an opening in the middle of the
ceilings makes these ruins very picturesque. As a contrast to the
loneliness of the spot, there is above our heads an artistic gem
of the cinquecento, a small portico designed and painted by
llaffaellino del Colle. The subjects of the graceful frescoes are:
Cupid showing the arrow to Venus ; Venus lacing her sandals ;
Jupiter in the form of a Satyr pursuing Antiope ; and other such
mythological scenes. The frescoes, injured by neglect, were re-
stored by Camuccini in 1824 at the expense of Charles Mills.

THE HOUSE OF AUGUSTUS 143

It is probable that the works of art, discovered at various times
in the adjoining Stadium, have fallen there from the Domus
Augustana and from the Portico of the Danaids (see § xxii.).

The two columns of alabaster found in 1728 have been used
in the decoration of the Odescalchi chapel. The two bas-reliefs
symbolic of the foundation of Rome (]\loniimenta Mattheiana,
vol. iii. pis. 37 and 45) are now set into the wall of the courtyard
of the Palazzo Mattel. The third, with Daedalos and Ikaros
(Winckelmann, Monum. inediti, n. 95), belongs to the Villa
Albani ; the fourth, with the young Satyr (Visconti, Museo Pio
Clement, vol. iv. pi. 31), to the Galleria dei candelabri. The fifth,
of Theseos and the Minotaur, is broken in two, one part belong-
ing to the British Museum (Ancient Marbles, xi. 48), one to the
Museo delle Terme in Rome. The latter also owns the sixth
panel, with the figures of Ulysses and Diomedes. How interesting
it would be to the stiulent if plaster-casts of this unique set of
panels were exhibited in the place to which the originals belong !
The capital of the Corinthian order with the acanthus leaves
bending from right to left (Guattani, Monum. ined., vol. ii. 1785,
p. 94, tav. ii. fig. G) is now in England. The exfjuisite frieze
of the sterquilinium was divided between the architect Barberi
and the Venetian amlxissador Andrea Memmo. One of the two
Leda? discovered by Rancoureuil went to England, and the Apollo
Sauroktonos, also discovered by him, was purchased by Pius VI.
for the Museo Vaticano (Galleria delle statue, No. 264). The
Apollo Citharoedos by Scopas, which stood in the temple, between
the images of Latona and Diana, is represented in some brass
medals of tlie time of Augustus; there are also several reproduc-
tions in marble. The one (No. 516) in the Hall of the Muses was
found in 1774 in the Pianella di Cassio near Tivoli. A second
replica (No. 495 in the same hall), known as "Bacchus in Female
Attire," and very mucli restored, w'as removed from the Villa
Negroni. There is a third subject in the hall of the Greek Cross,
No. 582, known as the " IMuse Erato," which does not deserve the
name of Apollo Palatinus attributed to it in official catalogues.
The last replica, discovered in the Villa of Quintus Voconius
Pollio near Marino, March, 1885, was purchased by Leo XIII., and
largely restored by Galli. It now occupies the place of the Faun
of Circieii, No. 41 Braccio nuovo.

In all these works of art " Apollo appears in a costume which at
first sight surprises us. We seem to have before us one of those
exalted females who were mistresses of the Ivre and of song.

144 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

aud we require circumstantial evidence to convince us that these
splendid robes envelop the form of a slender youtli." '

References. — Giuseppe Guattani, Roma descritta ed illustrata, vol. i. p.
48, tav. viii.-xiv. ; and Monumenti inediti, vol. ii. 1785, pp. 1 and 29. — Luigi
Canina, Edljizii di Roma antica, vol. iv. pi. 108. — Henry Deglane, Gazette
Archeol., 1888, p. 14r5. — Bullettlno arch, com., vol. xi. 188.3, p. 185. — Visconti
aud Lanciani, Guida del Palatino, Rome, 1873, pp. 33 and 98. — Rodolfo Lan-
ciani, Pagan and Christian Rome, chap. v. ; and II palazzo maygiore, in Mit-
theilungen, 1894, pp. 3-36.

XVI. DoMus TiBERiANA (house of Tiberius), Fig. 54. — We
now cross the valley which separated, before Domitian's time, the
house of Augustus from the Cermalus, and visit the wing of the
Imperial residence which owes its existence to Tiberius and Cali-
gula. This part is not yet laid bare, the underground floor alone
having been made accessible here and there. As we have observed
in the introductory remarks, the substructures are most irregular
in their plan, because they were intended to serve but one pur-
pose : to support an artificial j^latform, upon w^hich the palace was
built on its own independent design. At the same time we must
acknowledge that the irregularity of the substructures is less
apparent here than in any other section of the hill, so that we
can almost foresee what would be the general outline of the Domus
Tiberiana and of the Domus Gaiana if the living apartments
were laid bare. The two buildings now form a rectangle 150
metres long and 115 metres wide, limited by the Forum Palatinum
on the south, by the area containing the prehistoric monuments on
the west, by the Clivus Yictorise on the north and east. It contains
the following j^laces of interest : (XIV) the Domus Tiberiana ;
(XV) the House of Germanicus ; (XVI) the wing added by Cali-
gula, which we shall call Domus Gaiana; (XVII) the Forum Pala-
tinum, a public square between the palaces of Caligula and Domi-
tian. Apropos of the last-named place, the reader must remember
that the Imperial buildings of the Palatine did not form a mass
inaccessible to the public, like the Vatican palace and gardens of
the present day; the hill w^as crossed by streets and passages,
through which the citizens could probably pass without restric-
tion at all hours of the day. The gates witli which these streets
and passages are provided were probably closed at night, and
had a guard posted by them.^ This is certain for the Porta

1 Emil Braun, Ruins and MvKevms, p. 230.

2 At the time of Caligula's murder the watch at the main gate was probably
kept by the Gennani corporis ciistodes (Suetonius, 58). There were also por-
ters {janitores) assisted by a watch-dog (Suetonius, Vitellius, 16).

Ef™t3io

TTH
41 I H

(XV) IniU-SE OF (iKKMANlCrS

(XIV)
FISH POND ?

[muunpnn

CLIVUS
VICTORIAE*

'^1

Fig. 54. — Plan of the Doraus Tiberiana and of the Domus Gaiaua.

146 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

Romanula and the Clivus Victoriae, and for the grand state en-
trance in front of Doniitian's palace ; it is probable for the steps
of Cacus, at the top of which the jambs of a travertine gate are
still to be seen. For other streets of access to the Palatine we
must await the results of further excavations.

Tiberius Claudius Nero, father of the Eiuperor, owned a modest
house (XV) on the Palatine, which afterwards came into the pos-
session of Germanicus. Tiberius the Emperor raised a noble
palace next to it, known in classic documents as the Domus Tibe-
riana. It formed a square, the south side of which opened on the
street called " Victoria Germaniciana," whilst the west towered
above the valley of the Velabrum at the height of 50 metres, the
north touched the Temple of Victory and Caligula's palace, and
the east opened on the Forum Palatinum.

Tacitus (Hist., i. 27) says that Otho, wishing to join the con-
spirators against the life of Galba, who were about to meet in the
Forum, descended to the Velabrum through the Domus Tiberiana
(probably by the steps of Cacus, or by one of the private stairs
which are still to be seen behind the gardener's house and the
walls of Romulus). The same historian describes Vitellius glutting
himself in the banqueting-room of the palace, while his jiartisans,
who were fighting against Flavins Sabinus, had set the Capitol
ablaze. The fire could be seen from the Imperial table. On re-
ceiving the news of his defeat, which left no hope for his crown or
foi" his life, he rushed to the Aventine jjer aversam partem palatii,
viz., by the same steps which Otho had descended a few months
before.

The great attraction of the palace was the library, Bibliotheca
Tiberiana, which seems to have contained state papers and docu-
ments more than books. The passage of Dion Cassiiis about the
fire of Commodus very probably refers to it : " The flames per-
vaded the palace with such suddenness and force that nearly all
the registers and records of the Empire were lost."

The only portion now visible is the arched substructures of the
south front, with a row of cells very poorly lighted, ventilated,
and ornamented (see Fig. 49). They must have been occupied
by soldiers or slaves. One of them (A) protected by a wooden
railing, is very rich in grafiiti, lately published and explained by
Professor Correra in " Bull. arch, com.," 1894, p. 95, plates 2-4.
There ai-e mairy names, followed by the specification castre\ji]sis,
"from the praetorian camp," or milea, "soldier." One of them
writes in tolei-ably good Greek, " Many have Mritten many tilings

THE HOUSE OF TIBERIUS 147

on this wall, I nothing ; " to which another hand subscribes
•• Bravo ! " Per-
haps the most

curious sratiito , v ,.,(

is a rough TV /.L/V^X^'I
sketch of the

head of Nero made by a soldier named
TuUius Romanus. ^^ ^ ^-,\\ k 3; i

Rough sketches and bona-lide carica- .^^'^.' ^t :i}''<^''-^

turesof Imperial heads are not unknown ; '- .'' i" \

on the Palatine. One was found in /,^ ,/|y iT^_^>
March, 1876, by an English lady, graf- ^'V,f \ \

fito on a slab of giallo antico with the \ ' , j|.^ ^^ ~

semi-barbaric legend " Caxir Xero " (iVero V\Vj 'A v\S\vx .. -^ JS
Ccesar), the work of one of the Teutonic • \! ^ C^-"" '"^J

body-guard.i This also is a specimen of \ ~^^ i

the artistic propensities of another sol- A /f

dier, who perhajjs had just seen the Em- 1 2_ //

peror walking in front of the corpx-de- /\^ {

fjarde of the Domus Tiberiana. Several A

officers from the Domus Tiberiana are /'J

recorded in Roman epitaphs : a balam- //
helus acuarius, or plumber (Corpus, n. Fig. 55. — A Graffito of the
8653) an alhanus a supelectile. or keeper Domus Tiberiana.

of plate (n. 8654) ; ajucundus vilicus, or caretaker (n. 8655), etc.

XVII. House of Germanicus (Fig. .54, XV.). — This beau-
tiful edifice was discovered in the spring of 1869, and I well re-
memV)er the excitement created among artists and archseologists
by the appearance of its celebrated paintings. It is the only Ro-
num private house now existing, the one discovered l)y Azara in
the Villa ]\Iontalto, near the present railway station, having been
destroyed in 1777, and its paintings cut away from the walls and
sold to Lord Bristol. ^

The house has but one entrance (B), not from the streets, which
go round thi-ee sides of it, but from the cryptoporticus of the

1 Published in facsimile, Bull. arch, cow., 1877, p. 166.

■- The house discovered by Azara was illustrated by Angelo Uggeri,
Iconografia deyli erlifizi di Roma antica, vol. iii. pis. 14-17, p. 53; vol. ii.
pi. 24. — Raffaele Mengs and Camillo Buti, Pitture trovate I' anno 1777 nelhi
rilln Ner]voni. 13 plates. — Camillo Massimi, Notizie della villa Massimi,
Rome, 1836, p. 214. — Luigi Canina, Edijizl di Roma antica, vol. iv. tav. 192.

148 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

palace of Tiberius and CaligTila, in which the murder of the latter
took place on January 24, a. d. 41. The historians who describe
the event say that the murderers, not daring to retrace their steps
for fear of the guards posted at the main entrance by the Velia,
ran away in the opposite direction and concealed themselves in
the house of Germanicus. This statement leaves no doubt as to
the identity of the building, which, besides, abounds in hiding-
places, crypts, and underground passages running in the direction
of the house of Augustus. The intense love felt by the Romans
for the unhappy prince, and the veneration for his memory, which
lasted for centuries, explain the fact that this house alone, among
so many public and private buildings, altars, shrines, temples,
palaces, etc., destroyed by the Cpesars, was kept as a national
relic down to the fall of the Empire. Evidence of the care taken
of, and of repairs made on, the house from time to time is to be
found in the legends of its water-pipes. One bears the name
" Ivliae-Avg" (Julia, the daughter of Titus, or Julia Domna) ; the
second, " Domitiani Caesar[/.s'] Avg[usti] " ; the third has the name
of a plumber, " \j\iicius'\ Pescennivs Eros," probably a contempo-
rary of Septimius Severus.

The fore portion of tlie house, sunk below the level of the
street, is built of reticulated work with small prisms of yellowish
tufa. The angles and arches are of the same material, without
any mixture of bricks, a style of masonry which came into fashion
towards the end of the Republic. Like all Roman private resi-
dences, it is divided into two sections: one for the reception of
friends and clients, one for domestic use. We enter the first by
an inclined vestibule paved with fine mosaic. Tlie atrium (C) was
probably testudinatum, viz. covered by a roof with no impluinum
in the centre. The pavement is of fine mosaic ; and there are
remains of the altar of the domestic gods (D). Three halls open
on the side opposite the vestibule ; the first on the left (E), dam-
aged by the sinking of the outer wall, has some good decorative
panels divided by slender columns, with ivy and vines woven around
their shafts.

The central hall or tablinum (F) has a similar decoration of
composite columns, but the panels contain frescoes far superior
to the others in interest, design, and execution. They have been
reproduced many times and by various processes by Rosa, Perrot,
and the German Institute ; the best copes in facsimile, made at
the time of the discovery by M. Layraud, were presented by
Napoleon III. to the Library of the l^cole des Beaux Ai'ts.

THE HOrSE OF GERMANICVS 149

The one in the back wall represents Polyphemus the giant, half
merged in the waters of the sea, who, having crushed his rival
Akis under a heavy rock, turns toward Galatea with an expression
of cruelty mingled with tenderness. The Xymph glides over the
water on the back of a sea-horse, followed by two Nereids. The
passion by which the giant was nuxstered is represented by a
Cupid, who stands upright on his left shoulder and guides him
with a ribbon.

On the right, and above the frieze, there is a smaller panel
rejiresenting a scene of private initiation. The picture which
follows, on turning to the right wall, belongs to the landscape
order, and show^s a sti-eet scene with houses many stories high
on either side. A woman, followed by her attendant, knocks at
one of the doors, and four or five figures appear at the windows
or on the balconies to make sui'e who is seeking for admittance.
The second small panel, above the frieze, seems to indicate the
preparations for a domestic sacrifice.

The last and best picture pertains to the myth of lo, loved by
Jupiter and persecuted by Juno. The fair daughter of Inachus is
kept jirisoner in the sacred wood by Mycen.T, and sits at the foot
of a pillar surmounted by the image of the jealous goddess. The
all-seeing Argos, armed with lance and sword, gazes intently at
the girl in his custody. Behind the rock, on which he is leaning
with the right elbow, Mercury appears to advance cautiously,
waving the caduceus as a symbol of his mission from the father
of the gods for the deliverance of lo. The name EPMH2 is written
in white letters under the Messenger's feet, and there is no doubt
that the other jiersonages were likewise indicated by their proper
names in, APFOS.

The dining-room or Irirlinium (G) opens on the west side of
the court. Its frescoes have suffered very mucli from exposure
and damp, the apartment being sunk four metres l)elow the street.
The walls have been found coated with flange tiles, with the rim
turned inwards, so as to leave a free space for the circulation of
air and the evaporation of moisture. A curious vase of glass filled
with fruit is painted above the entrance door. The panels have a
vermilion ground, except two which show fanciful groups of birds,
animals, trees, etc., on a white surface, the work of a very inferior
artist.

Admittance to the inner (and higher) rooms is gained by a
narrow wooden staircase (H) on the west side of the atrium, near
the door of the iricliniiDii : but they hardly deserve a visit, having
been despoiled of every bit of ornamentation.

150 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

References. — Pietro Rosa, Plan et peintures de la niaison pnternelle de
Tib'ere, s. 1. — Lanciani and Visconti, Guida del Palatino, Rome, Bocca, 1873,
p. 132. — Georges Perrot, Memulres d^ircheologie, Paris, Didier, 1875, p. 74.
(Les peintures du Palatin.) — J. H. Middleton, The Remains of Ancient Rome,
vol. i. p. 175. — Monumenti delV lustituto, vol. xi. pis. 22, 23.

XVIII. DoMUS Gaiana (house of Caligula), Fig. 54, XVI. —
Suetonius (Calig. 22) and Dion Cassius (lix. 28; Ix. 6) say that
Caligula protracted the Imjjerial Palace as far as the Forum {ad
Forum usque), making use of the Temple of Castor and Pollux
for a vestibule. lie must have thus occupied and built over
the ground once covered by the houses of Clodius, Cicero, and
other wealthy citizens, described in § ii., and crossed by the Clivus
Victorife. The front of the palace opened on the Nova Via,
towering above its pavement to the height of 150 feet. This
facade is represented in its present ruinous state by the following
plate (Fig. 56).

Starting from the foreground — the Clivu.s Sacer by the Arch
of Fabius Allobrogicus — we first see the house of the Vestals,
with the statues of the priestesses lining the south side of the
peristyle ; and above it the Nova Via, by which the house was
separated from Caligula's palace. The whole mass of arched
masonry which rises above the street, and which appears ci'owned
by a clump of ilexes, represents only the substructures built by
Caligula to raise the slope of the hill to a level with its summit.
The palace itself, with its state apartments and halls and porti-
coes, began where the ruins actually stop, not a particle being left
above ground to tell the tale. The substructures, at all events, are
well worth visiting : we gain by them the true idea of the human
fourmilliere of slaves, servants, freedmen, and guards, which lived
and moved and worked in the substrata of the Palatine, serving
the court in silence and almost in darkness. It is difficult to
understand or to explain how the greater portion of these under-
ground dens were lighted and ventilated. I believe that, in the
oi'iginal design, they were well provided with such essential ele-
ments of light and comfort : the cryptoporticm, where the mux'der
of Caligula took place, received light from tlie Forum Palatinum
(Fig. 54, XVII.) by means of skylights opening under each inter-
columniation ; the rooms KK had a skylight in the middle of
their vaulted ceiling, and so forth. In progress of time, aiul on the
occasion of the repairs and changes which every Emperor consid-
ered it his duty to make, no regard was paid to the original plan :
staircases, windows, and corridors were condemned, intercepted, or

THE HOUSE OF CALIGULA

151

closed : rooms subdivided into two or four apartments ; free spaces
built over ; and streets tm-ned into dark passages.

The student's most perplexing labor on the Palatine is to single
out which parts are architecturally essential and pertain to the

152 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

original plan, and which are later changes deserving no considera-
tion. His task is made even more tronblesome by the fact that all
maps of the hill, from that of Zangolini, which I published in
1873,1 to the latest of Richter (1889), Middletou (1892), and Bm-ns
(1895), mark existing remains with the same shade of color,
no matter whether they belong to the great banqueting-hall of
the masters of the world, or to a cellar sunk deep iu the ground.
I have tried to avoid this mistake in Sheets xxix. and xxxv. of
the " Forma Urbis," where only the living apartments and public

r+H

iUji^llllJ

Fig. 57. — A Corner of tlie Palace of Caligula according to Rosa's Map.

buildings are marked in full tint, the substructures and cellars
in lighter color or in simple outline. The results obtained by this
process of sifting are in many cases remarkable. The following
from Caligula's house might serve for all.

The portion of the house which spans the Clivus Victorias is
represented in guide and topographical books as follows (Fig. 57) :

According to this accepted plan, none of the rooms marked AA,
BB, CC had light or air, the whole space — the street included —
being vaulted over. Now, as " several rooms . . . are richly
1 The same that I have made use of in Ancient Rome, pp. 106, 107.

THE HOUSE OF CALIGULA

153

decorated with a combinatiou of colored stucco reliefs and paint-
ings on the flat, very gorgeous in effect, but almost invisible for
want of light, except that of lamp," ^ and others have an elaborate
mosaic floor, as is suitable for rooms inhabited, not by slaves, but
by officers of superior rank, we w^ere trying to find the proper ex-
planation of these facts, but in vain. It came in the most satis-
factory way w hen I adopted the system of distinguishing, in color
or in outline, the original walls from later additions.

By glancing at the nuip made with this caution. Fig. 58, we see
at once that when the palace was built by Caligula, the apartments

Fig. 58. — The Same, according to Sheet xxix.of the " Forma Urbis."

now plunged in darkness received light and air from a court 32
metres long and 26 wide, through which passed the Clivus Victoria^.
The rooms on the southwest side opened on a balcony " supported
on stone corbels carrying a series of arches." These and the
front of the balcony " are richly decorated with delicate reliefs,
modeled in stucco, of figures and foliage, once covered with gold
and colored decoration, and designed with great skill and beauty
of effect " (Middleton). The marble railing or parapet is an
addition by Rosa.

The rooms under the balcony, on a level with the court, were
used as a corps de garde. The walls of one (now protected by a

1 Middleton, i. 194.

154 THE RUIN^ AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

wooden railing) are covered with graffiti. There are names like
" Philaronivs," " Annaevs," " Aprilis ; " the inipi-ession of a coin
repeated five times ; and the phrase, written perhaps in the hour
of the siesta in a hot summer day : " Somnvs clavdit ocellos."
(See Bull, arch, com., 1895, p. 195.)

Another portion of the building, the cri/ptopnriicus, marked
XVIII, Fig. 51, has been identified beyond any shade of doubt
with the " solitary and obscure corridor " in which the assassina-
tion of Caligula took place on January 14, a. d. 41. The event is
described at some length on pp. 117-119 of " Ancient Rome."

Near the bend of the crriptoporticus towards the house of Ger-
manicus, there is an oval basin, which Rosa calls a fish-pond
(vivaio di pesci). I doubt whether it is ancient, or the work of a
mediaeval farmer. It marks the i^lace in which the Renaissance
lime-burners established their kilns. One of these was discovered
by Rosa in 1866, filled to the brim with exquisite works of art,
some of which had by an accident escaped the effects of fire. The
objects formerly exhibited in the local Museo Palatino, where
they attracted intense interest, and now scattei'ed in various rooms
of the Museo delle Terme, comprise a veiled head of the Emperor
Claudius; a head of Nero; three caryatides or eaHe/j/io/-rt« of nero
antico of an archaistic type ; an exquisite statue of an ephebos in
green basalt, with the arms and lower portion of the legs miss-
ing ; ^ head of Arpokras, and several fragments of less importance.

The last place deserving of a visit is the long and well-preserved
staircase which leads from the Clivus Victoriae to the top of the
ruins, where a charming little grove of evergreens now casts its
shade. The grove is known in literary histoi'y as the first place
of meeting of the Accademia degli Arcadi.

The palace, or whatever remained of it in tolerable preservation
after the barbarian inroads, was taken possession of and some-
times inhabited by the popes, as a practical evidence of their
political power in Rome. The palace was put under the cai'e of
an officer styled a ciira jjalatii. One of them named Plato, whose
epitaph was seen by Pietro Sabino in tlie pavement of the church
of S. Anastasia, rebuilt or repaired about 680 the long staircase
which I have just mentioned as descending from tlie top of the
ruins to the Clivus Victoi-iae and the Porta Romanula. His son,
having been elected pojie in 705 under the name of ,Iohn VI I.,^

1 The statue has been recently ilUistrated by F. Hauser in the MlUhnlunijen
for 1805, pp. 97-119, pi. 1. (Basalt statue vom Palatin.)

2 John VII. was buried in S. Peter's before the altar of the Sudario, which

THE HOUSE OF CALIGULA

155

conceived the plan of making the palace of the Caesars the perma-
nent and official residence of the Bishops of Rome ; and accord-
ingly " super ecclesiam sanctaj Dei genitricis qua? antiqua vocatur
[above the church of S. ]\Iaria Liberatrice] episcopium construere
vol nit," 1 and established brick-kilns for the purpose, the produce
of which is marked by the stamp shown in Fig. 59.

Fig. 59. — A Brick Stamp of Jolin VII.

John YIT. did not live to see his project accomplished : his
successors did not care for it, and they repaired to the convents
or strongholds of the Palatine only in case of necessity. Celes-
tinus II. died in 1144 apud Palladium (in the monastery of S.
Cesario) ; Lucius II. in 114.3 ap>id ecclesiam S. Gregorii (in the
fortress of the Septizonium) ; Eugenius III. was elected pope in
1145 apud monasteriiun S. Cesarii ; Gregory IX. in 1227 apiid sep-
temsolium. They were simply chosen as places of refuge in times
of popular disorder, which once quelled, the popes resumed their
habitual residence at the Lateran.

Caligula's palace has not been excavated since the sack by the
Duke qf Parma in 1725-27 ; and we do not know whether thei'e
are still traces left of the work of John VII. or of his Imperial
predecessors.

XIX. The Palace of Domitiax (ojKi'a Ao/xenavoC). — One of
the first thoughts of Vespasian, after iiis election in a. d. 69, was
to reduce the Imperial residence to its old limits on the Palatine,

he had built and endowed. His portrait, a miniature in a golden ground, is
given by Giacomo Grimaldi, Cod. Barb., f. 9-3.

1 References. — Liber pontijicalis, in .lohann. VII., ed. Duchesne, vol. i.
p. 385. — G. Battista de Rossi, Notizie deyli Scari, dicemb. 188-3. — Rodolfo
Lauciani, L' itinerario di Einsiedlen, p. 63. — Louis Duchesne, Btdletin cri-
tique, 188.5, p. 417 sq. ; and Milanrieif de V Ecole franq(nse de Rome, 1896, fasc.
ii. — Grisar Hartniann, S. .T., in CiriUa Cattol, May, 189G.

loG THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

and give back to the people the immense tract of land which
Nero had usurped for his Golden House. At the same time he
could not abstain from raising himself a new palace, to be used
for state receptions and banquets. This great structure, called by
Nerva cedes publicce populi Romani, was brought to perfecticg;i by
Domitian, who lavished upon it all the costliest productions of
contemporary art. Hence Plutarch (Poplic, 15) calls it o'lKia
Aofieriavov, and compares Domitian to Midas, who turned into gold
whatever fell under his touch. See also the eulogy of Statins
(Sylv., iv. 11, 18). It stands between the palaces of Tiberius and
Caligula on one side, and that of Augustus (with its temples and
porticoes) on the other, in the line of the valley which runs from
the Arch of Titus to the Circus. The valley was still occupied at
that time by private mansions, and by one or two shrines ; they
were not destroyed, but made use of to support the platform on
which the palace stands. Some of these older buildings are still
visible, and will be described below. The plan of the palace is
that of a private Roman house, but it is of a size and magnificence
becoming the ruler of the world. Little or nothing is known of
its history ; in fact, it seems never to have required repairs on
account of the solidity of its construction. The Emperors did
not live in it, but held their levees, delivered their judgments,
presided over councils of state, received foreign envoys, and gave
official banquets in the various apartments set apart for such
purposes. The last Emperor seen in the palace was Heraclius,
whose coronation took place in the throne-room a. d. 629. We
hear of it again nine centuries later, when the northern half of the
Palatine was bought by the Farnese. To this family we owe the
first excavations of the Palatine. They took place in 1536, when
the avenue now called di S. Gregorio was cut open between the
Septizonium and Constantine's Arch for the triumphal progress of
Charles V. In the legal deeds for the acquisition of property on
the hill, the Farnese, and above all the glorious Cardinal Alessan-
dro, always betray their inclination for archaeological discoveries.
One of them, dated January 17, 1542, contains these words :
"Marco Antonio Palosio sells to tlie cardinal, etc., his vinej^ard
on the Palatine, adjoining that of Yirginio da Mantaco, with its
crypts, ruins, edifices, marbles, and statues, whether visible above
ground or covered yet by the accumulation of soil." The result
of the Farnese excavations is not known ; but considering that
the front walls of the gardens (destroyed in 1881) cut the house
of the Vestals right in two, that the Uccelliera (now the Uffizio

158 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

degli Scavi) was founded on Caligula's palace, and the Casino
(described on p. 164) on that of Domitian, something of value must
certainly have come to light. Tlie only monument mentioned by
contemporary archfeologists is the pedestal (Corpus Inscr., vi. 456)
which marks approximately the site of the ^des Penatium in
Velia. It was discovered near the Arch of Titus.

Three halls open on the front of Domitian's palace : tlie throne-
room, aula regia, in the centre ; the chapel, or lararium, on the left ;
and a basilica, or court-room, on the right. The throne-room, built
of bricks from the kilns of Flavia Domitilla, is 160 feet long and 120
wide, and was decorated with sixteen columns of pavonazzetto (aa),
having bases and capitals exquisitely cut in ivory-coloi-ed marble.
There were three niches on either side for colossal statues or groups,
and each of them was flanked by smaller columns of porphyry.
The two statues of black basalt, discovered in the adjoining
basilica in 1724, had been probably removed from these niches.
On either side of the great door (b), opening on the front portico,
stood two columns of giallo antico, which the Duke of Parma sold
to the stone-cutters Perini and IMaciucchi for 3000 scudi. The
threshold was made of a block of Greek marble so large that the
high altar of the church of S. M. ilotonda has been cut out of it.
The throne (c), or augustale solium, was placed ojDposite the door,
in the apse where Bianchini in 1726 set up his mendacious praise
of Francis I., Duke of Parma and Piacenza, the last destroyer of
the Palatine. Bianchini has given the name of lararimn, or do-
mestic chapel, to the room on the left, on account of the altar
which he found built against the back wall. The altar, which was
approached by two flights of stairs, has since been demolished.
Here took place the remarkable find described in " Ancient Rome,"
p. 127. Heliogabalus, according to Herodianus, had attempted to
collect into the chaj^el attached to the palace of the Caesars the
most famous relics of the Roman world — the Palladium, the fire
of Vesta, the ancilia, and, of course, the Acus Matris Deum or
meteoric stone from Pessinus, described in § xiii. The stone, it may
be remembered, was very large, of conical shape, and brown in
color. Monsignor Bianchini, who excavated the lararium in 1725,
seems to have positively discovered the relic. " I am sorry," he
says, " that no fragment of statue or bas-relief or inscription has
been found in the chapel ; . . . the only object discovered was a
stone nearly three feet high, conical in shape, of a deep brow'n
color, looking very much like lava, and ending in a sharp point.
I do not know what became of it."

THE PALACE OF DOM TT I AN 159

If my siu-mise i.s well founded, and the identity between the
Acus Matris Deum and Bianchini's stone probable, if not certain,
we can better understand the passage of the " A^ita Heliog.," iii.
The templum HeJiogahali iuxta (edes imperatorias, which he men-
tions, must have been close to the lararium, unless the lararium
itself was transformed into a temple.

Behind the chapel is the only staircase (d) yet discovered in
these apartments. It led to the iipper galleries, from which the
great ceremonies of state coidd be witnessed by invited guests.
Another flight of steps, now buried again, leads to the wine-cellars,
whei-e Bianchini discovered, in 1721, rows of amphorfe marked
with the label liquamen excellens L. Purelli Gemelli (Bianchini, p.
260). The walls of the staircase and those of the room (e) were
covered with exquisite fresco paintings, of which not a square
inch has been spared desti-uction. Fortunately they were copied
in time b}- Gaetano Piccini and Francesco Bartoli. Piccini's
album is to be found now in the Museum of the Hofburg, Vienna;
Bartoli's plates in the Topham collection at Eton. These last
number 58, of which 10 are of great size. They represent cam-
pestrian scenes, sacritices, and Bacchic dances, crowded with grace-
fid figures.!

Some of the subjects have also been engraved on copper. They
are to be found in Cameron's " Baths of the Romans from tlie
Restorations of Palladio " (London, 1772) ; in INIorghen's appen-
dix to the " Pictura? antiquas Cryptarum Romanarum " of Bartoli ;
and in tlie '• Collection of Ancient Paintings after the Originals at
Rome, witli Critical, Historical, and Mythological Observations
upon them," by George Turnbull, LL. D. (London, 1741, folio,
54 plates). When we think that these exquisite specimens of
the golden art of Domitian's age were found intact in the first
quarter of last century, under the eyes of such men as Cardinal
Alessandro Albani, Pier Leone Ghezzi, Francesco Bianchini, and
Fi-ancesco Bartoli, and that the very walls w^hich they covered
wei-e demolished for the sake of the bricks, we may indeed ask by
what right we continue blaming the iSIiddle Ages or the barbarians
for deeds Avhich are not as disgraceful as those here recorded.

The hall on the opposite side of the throne-room is thought to
have been a hasilica, or court-room, where the prince delivered
judgment in cases pertaining or submitted to the crown. There

1 See Disegni di antichita nella BiMiott-ca di S. Maria di Eton (in Bull,
arch, com., 1894, p. 164). — Pirturw antiqiM Cryptanim Romanarum {ibidem,
189.5, p. 182).— II palmzo Mar/r/iore (in Mittheilung-en. 1894, p. 26).

160 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

are still traces of the suggestum or platform on which sat the Im-
perial judge and his assessors, and of the staircases which led to it.
The fragment of a marble screen, dividing the apse from the space
reserved for the audience, and the columns by which the hall would
be divided into aisles and nave, are " restorations " of Commenda-
tore Rosa, resting on no sufficient evidence. The basilica was
excavated for the first time (?) in 1724. There is an account of
the results in MSS. p. 248 of the queen's library at Windsor,
from which we gather that the two colossal statues of Bacchus
and Hercules in black basalt, now in the Museo at Parma, were
found lying on the floor on April 20 of the same year.

Behind the three front halls opens the inner court or peristyle,
the area of which amounts to 3600 square metres. The columns
were of porta santa, with columns, capitals, and entablature cut in
white marble like lace-work. Suetonius says that this was a favor-
ite haunt of Domitian, who could walk under the colonnades away
from the crowd and secure from danger. The biographer adds
that the side walls had been inci'usted with slabs of phengite
marble, reflecting the images like a mirror, so as to allow the
prince to see whatever might take place behind his shoulders.
The two sides of the peristyle are occupied by a set of nine rooms
of various shapes, the use of which it is not easy to imagine.
Considering, however, that the middle room, octagonal in shape,
forms a vestibule through which personages driving to the palace
by the Forum Palatinum were admitted into it, it is obvious that
they were used for cloak and waiting rooms, porter's lodge, etc.

Before proceeding any farther in our description, it is necessary
to remember that below the halls we have visited, and even below
the peristyle, there are other splendid apartments, galleries, crypto-
porticuses, and bathrooms, the existence of which has remained
unknown to the modern excavators of the Palatine. I only dis-
covered it myself in 1892, while examining Bianchini's manu-
scripts in the Biblioteca Capitolare at Verona, and the Topham
collection of drawings at Eton. The subject is so curious and new
that a few words of explanation will not be out of place.

In 1722, the Marchese Ignazio de' Santi, Minister of Parma to
the Pope, asked leave for his master, the Duke Francis, to excavate
the Palatine Gardens which he had inherited from the Farnese.
Cardinal Patrizi, in giving consent on behalf of Innocent XTII.,
imposed two conditions : that if the value of gold and silver coins,
engraved stones, and medals should eventually exceed the sum of
10.000 scudi, the Pope's treasury should share the profits ; secondly.

THE PALACE OF DO MIT I AN 161

that life-size statues and architectural marbles should not be re-
moved from Rome. Duke Francesco rebelled against these fair
conditions, and his agent in Rome gave so much trouble that, on
April 4, 1720, Cardinal Albani gave him carte blanche to do what
he pleased on the Palatine. He did not hesitate about it. The
acts of vandalism committed by this Ignazio de' Santi and his
successor Count Suzzani, with the tacit consent of Monsignore
Francesco Bianchini, w^ho had been appointed superintendent of
the excavations, have no parallel in the history of the destruction
of Rome. The words ladronecci infami, used by Guattani in re-
ferring to them, are comparatively mild. The prelate was the only
one to sufifer. While watching the works one day, the ground
gave way under his feet, and although the di'op w^as hardly four-
teen feet, the shock was ultimately the cause of his death. His
posthumous volume, " II palazzo dei Cesari," is almost worthless,
both in the text and in the plates, which an eye-witness of the
excavations, Pier Leone Ghezzi, denounces as ••' impostures." The
discovery of an underground floor is not mentioned nor illustrated
by Bianchini, and I had to make a pilgrimage to Yerona, Eton,
and Paris to collect information about it.^ Without entering into
particulars already published in the " Mittheilungen " of 1894, I
will merely mention the discovery of a bathroom 21.30 metres long
and 11.50 metres deep, the richest and most beautiful apartment,
as far as we know, in the whole palace of the Caesars. The walls
were incrusted with " Florentine " mosaic work in pieti-a dura,
alternating here and there with marble bas-reliefs set in a richly
carved frame, and with niches for statues. A colonnade of por-
phyry shafts, each two feet in diameter, ran along three sides of
the hall ; while on the f oui'th side five lions' heads of gilt bronze
threw jets of water into a marble basin. Each fountain was flanked
by ten columns of porph^Ty, sei'pentine, giallo, verde, and pavo-
nazzetto, with capitals and bases of gilt bronze. The roof (frag-
ments of which lay scattered on the pavement inlaid with crusts
of the rarest breccias) seems to have been divided into panels,
some of which contained mythological groups in fresco painting,
others figurines of white stucco on a heavily gilt ground.

All these treasm-es were destroyed in May, 1721. An English
artist, E. Kirkall, who has left two rare coloi'ed prints of this hall,
says in the footnote, '' The plan of Augustus's (Domitian's) bath,

1 The memory of the find was lost altogether by the houses of Parma and
Naples and by their diplomatic agents in Rome, so much so that in 18-35
another search was made in the same spot, naturally without results.

162 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

found underground on the east side of the Pahitine hill in Rome
in the year 1721, and barbarously defaced and broken in pieces
during the conclave of that year, and the broken pieces sent to
Parma."

It is to be regretted that this underground portion of Domitian's
palace, without which we shall never be able to understand the
working and mechanism of Roman Imperial state life, should be
still buried under a mass of rubbish. The only rooms now visible
(under the west wing of the peristyle — very damp and chilly)
have nothing to do with it : tliey belong to a private mansion of
the late Republic, which Domitian left undisturbed because it lay
below the level of his artificial platform. The discoverers of 1720
misnamed it the Baths of Livia (see Fig. 60). The first room at
the foot of the (modern) stairs was decorated with arabesques and
festoons on a ground of gold ; the second with groups of figurines
on a blue ground ; the ornaments of the ceilings were also worthy
of the golden age of Augustus. Owing to the neglect in which
this gem of Roman domestic architecture has been kept since 1726,
the decorations have nearly disappeared.

The triclinium, or great state lianqueting-hall, opens on the
south side of the peristyle. Nardini has identified it with the
lovis Cenado, in which the murder of Pertinax took place, as de-
scribed in the " Vita," ch. xi. The biographer says that the three
hundred rebels from the Prjetorian camp entered the palace by the
vestibule opening on the Forum Palatinum, and rushed through
the locus qui appellatur Sicilia to the lovis Cenatio, where they
met with their Imperial victim. If the lovis Cenatio is the name
of the dining-room, that of Sicilia must belong to the peristyle.
Nothing remains to tell us how this hall was decorated save two
fragments of granite columns, of which there must have been
sixteen. The pavement of the apse, where the table of honor was
set, is well preserved, but the administration is compelled to keep
it covered, to save it from frost, rain, and the hands of tourists.
It is made of crusts of porphyry, serpentine, giallo, and pavo-
nazzetto in imitation of geometrical patterns. The small tri-
angidar cabinet, on the left of the apse, was probably a latrina.
The dining-room was necessarily connected with kitchens and
pantry, haunted by hundreds of coci; but here again we are left
in the dark because the excavations have stojjped at the wrong
level. The tombstones of members of the Imperial household,
collected in vol. vi. part ii. pp. 11.50-1204 of the " Corpus Inscrip-
tionum," mention among other officers several members of the

THE PALACE OF DOMITIAN 163

collegium cocorum Ccesaris (No. 8750) ; a grand chef, prcepositus
cocorum (No. 875'2) ; cooks that the Emperors had purchased or
obtained from the Cornufician and Sestian families (Nos. 8753,
8754) ; a butler a cena centurionum (No. 8748), viz., for the service
of the officers of the bodyguard on duty at the palace ; a super-
intendent of the wine-cellars (No. 8745) ; a Gemellus prcejmsilus
argenti potorii, keeper of silver drink ing-cups (No. 8729) ; an
Ulpius Ilierax, keeper of gold plate and cups (No. 8733) ; a i7-iclini-
archa or chief butler (No. 1884) ; a keeper of lamps (No. 8868) ;
keepers of table-linen, bakers, pastry-cooks, and jn-cegustatores.
Princes and jjrincesses of the Imperial family had their own
special cooks like the Zethus, No. 8755, who calls himself cocus
Marcellce minoris.

In the portion of the Imperial palace or palaces visible to us
there is no room for the lodging and keeping of such a powerful
army of servants as we know to have been attached to the court.
The columbaria of servants and freedmen of Augustus and Livia
on the Appian Way — described in " Ancient Rome," p. 130 — con-
tained about six thousand cinerary urns. The number must have
been doubled under the extravagant nde of Nero and Caligula ;
and yet not half of the Palatine was built over in those days.
There are many mysteries to be solved before we gain a satisfac-
tory knowledge of the material organization and working of the
Imperial Court.

There is one more hall of the olKia Aofienavov to be visited on
the right of the triclinium. It was used as a ni/mphceum, where
the water, playing in various ways, the light, filtering through
bushes of exotic plants, the perfume of rare flowers, and the
balmy air adnutted through Cizycene windows, made the post-
prandial siesta most agreeal)le. The fountain is elliptical in
shape, with inches and recesses for flower-jjots and statuettes.
The pavement is inlaid with the most rare bits of oriental ala-
baster. Upon it were lying at the time of the discovery (1862)
two pieces of fluted columns of giallo brecciato, and a statue of
Eros with large wings, restored by Karl Steinhauser, and removed
to the Louvre. Froehner (Musee National du Louvre, Sculjsture
antique, p. 311, No. 325) describes it as "un torse grec d'une
exquise delicatesse de ciseau. De la main droite levee, Eros ado-
lescent versait du vin dans une coupe." The statue has been illus-
trated by Froehner himself in the " Illustration," 1867, p. 1-52, and
by Henzen in the " BulL Inst.," 1862, p. 227.

It is hardly necessary to remind the reader that the palace of

164 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

Domitiiiu is syuimetrical in all its parts, and tliat a room of the
same style and size as this Nymj)hieum is lying buried under the
Convent of the Visitation (Villa Mills).

On the edge of these ruins Cardinal Alessandro Farnese raised
a casino, the north portico of which was painted in arabesques by
a pupil of Taddeo Zuccari. The panels represent vEneas visiting
J^vander, Cacus stealing the oxen of Hercules, Evander sacrificing
to Hercules, the grotto of the Lupercal, the foundation of Rome,
subjects drawn from the Virgilian reminiscences of the Palatine.

The works of art discovered in the Palace of Domitian are
scattered to the four winds. The basalt statues of Hercules and
Apollo, found in 1724, are in the Museo di Antichita at Parma,
together with other architectural and ornamental marbles ; more
pieces were removed to the Palazzo Farnese at the end of last cen-
tury. Napoleon III. presented to the Louvre the most rare and
beautiful results of his excavations (November 4, 1861, to April,
1870) ; even the small but highly interesting local museum founded
by Commendatore Rosa (catalogued in the Guida del Palatino, p.
52) has been dispersed, and its contents have lost their individu-
ality in the great collections of the Museo Nazionale alle Terme.

As to the fate of the fresco paintings discovered behind the
lararium in 1721-25, I quote this passage from Winckelmann's
" Storia delle Arti," ed. Fea, vol. iii. p. 105, § 26 : "A hall forty
feet long, with the walls entirely covered with frescoes, was un-
earthed on the Palatine in 1724. The panels were separated by
columns (in the so-called grotesque style) very thin and long.
The panels detached from the walls went first to Parma, then to
Naples, together with other rare objects inherited from the Farnese.
But as they were kept in their boxes for twenty-four years, the
mildew and damp effaced every trace of them, except in the case
of a small Caryatid, which is now exhibited at Capo di ^Nlonte."

All writers on the Palatine describe some exquisitely carved
marbles, spoils of the excavations of 1725, which had been laid
aside by the Uccelliera ; and Luigi Rossini has illustrated them
in one of the best jjlates of his work " I Sette Colli." Twenty-four
pieces were shipped to Naples in 1787, by order of Carlo Paniceri,
agent of the king; the others were removed to the Palazzo Far-
nese about 1830. In May, 1834, Count Ludolf, the Neapolitan
envoy, asked leave of Gregory XVI. for the removal to the Museo
Borbonico of this last remnant from the Palatine. The govern-
ment had not courage to refuse, and tried to throw the responsi-
bility on a committee of experts. The commissioners in this case

THE GARDEyS OF ADONfS 165

gave the goveniiueiit a good lesson. Their report, signed by Carlo
Fea, the veteran defender of our archaeological patrimony, contains
these words: "Carlo Fea begs to be excused for not giving his
consent to the removal, because these marbles are essential parts
of the Imperial palace, and must be left where they belong for
the use of archaeologists, historians, and artists, who could never
understand the architecture and the ornamentation of those noble
ruins without them. We must not renew the example of Absyrtus
and Orpheus, whose limbs were torn to pieces and scattered far
and wide."

A last observation about the Palace of Domitian and the Far-
nese gardens in general. The rubbish or newly made ground
which covers the ruins is not entirely local, but has been brought
there from various parts, fi'om the foundations of the Chiesa del
Gesii, built by the same cardinal (1.375) and by the same archi-
tect (Vignola), from those of the Palazzo Farnese, etc. Under
the rule of the Frencli invaders, 1809-14, the earth from the ex-
cavations of the Temple of Venus and Kome was deposited in the
strip of land between the Xova Via and the Palace of Caligula.

REFERE^•CES. — Francesco Bianthini, // palazzo dei Cesari, Veroua, 1738,
chap. V. p. 48. — Wilhelm Henzen, Ann. Inst., 1862, p. 225; 1865, p. 346.—
Friedlaencler, Jfaurs Romaints, vol. i. p. 156. — Wilhelm Froehner, V IlluMm-
tion, 1867, p. 152.

XX. The Gardens of Adonis (Ilorti Adonfea — Vigna Bar-
berini). — Domitian added to the comfort and luxury of the
state apartments gardens laid out in Oriental style, and called
" Horti Adon.Ta." ^ He had borrowed the idea from the Assyrians,
who dedicated such places to Adonis, as the representative of the
Sun and the promoter of vegetable life. Amongst their specialties
were the ktjttoi 'ASwciSos, large pots of clay, sometimes of brass and
silver, in which fennel, lettuce, and other special plants were sown
on the approach of the anniversary feast of the god. The Palatine
gardens are represented in a fragment of the marble plan, Jordan's
" Forma," pi. 10, n. 44, reproduced on the next page (Fig. 61).

Where were the horti located? The answer is not so easily
given : perhajis they were laid out in the corner of the hill above
the Coliseum, which had already been incorporated in the Impe-

1 Philostratus, in the Life of ApoIIuniii.^ of Tyana, vii. 32, mentions not gar-
dens but avKrtv 'ASaJct^os, which means either a hall or a villa: m the first case
the indication of Philostratus might be referred to the hall designed in Fig. 61
in the middle of the gardens; in the second case it refers to the gardens them-
selves.

166 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

rial domain by Nero, and which is tlie only one that the plan fits.
This rectangnlar space, supported by great substruction walls, is
the property of the Barberini, and is called either the Vigna di
S. Sebastiano or Vigna dell' Abbadia.

A visit to this lovely spot is necessary to complete our study

Fig. 61. —The Horti Adonaea, a Fragment of the Marble Plan of Rome.

of the Palatine. No special permission is required, and the gate
— Via di S. Bonaventura, No. 3 — is usually kept open ; but the
gardener has acquired the habit of asking exorbitant fees. It is
better to address one's self to the keeper of the Cappella di S. Se-
bastiano. on the left of the entrance.

The topographers of the Renaissance have given this Vigna

THE GARDENS OF ADONIS

167

Barberini the iiauip of Foro A^ecchio, derived obviously from the
Curi» Veteres, which were located at this very corner of the hill.
Lucio Fauno (Antichita, p. 106) says "in molti istromenti antichi

(S. Bonaventura)

(Villa Mattel -Mills)

(Modern Street)

FORO VECCHIO

CCLXX

(Vigna Barberini)

o
o
o

rniTTT'

Fig. 62. — Plan of the Horti Adona?a (?), according to Ligorio.

di notai si truova questo luogo cognominato alia Curia Vecchia." ^

Ligorio (Bodleian, f. 55) gives the plan of the ruins here presented

(Fig. 6'2), stating at the same time that their condition was such

1 In deeds and records of notaries of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

168 THE RUINS AXD EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

that he could not vouch for the exactness of his survey. Flavio
Biondo (Rom. Inst., i. 76), who visited the place at the time of
Eugenius IV. (1431-39), speaks of it as one of the best preserved
and most imposing parts of the Palatine : " Remarkable ruins
they are, with marble doors in the circuit of the walls, finer and
more perfect than any others to be found in Rome." In chap. ix.
part i. of " Fabiola," Cardinal Wiseman gives a charming descrip-
tion of this spot, where he supposes that his hero Sebastian was
quartered ; and in chap. xxv. part iii. desci'ibes his martyrdom in
the " court of the palace near his own dwelling, planted with rows
of trees and consecrated to Adonis," and " that ancient chapel
which stands in the midst of the ruined Palatine, to mark the spot
on which he fell." The Acts of Sebastian are not altogether trust-
worthy, having been written in the fifth century, but their topo-
graphical indications are genuine. They place the scene of the
martyrdom in hippodromo palatii;^ and we know from other
sources that this was precisely the name given to the present
Vigna Barberini from the fall of the Empire to the tenth century,
when it was transferred to the so-called Stadium.

In the appendix to the " Piante di Roma," the late Comm. de
Rossi has published a curious description of the Palatine, written
at the foot of a map, in twelve numbers, corresponding to those
marked in the map itself. It is a document of the Byzantine
period. After describing the atrium, the throne-room, the basilica,
the banqueting-hall, etc., of the Palace of Domitian, it passes to
the house of Augustus (VII), to the great baths of the Palace of
Severus (VIII), to the stadium or gymnasium (IX), to an un-
known coquina (X), to the great reservoir of the Aqua Claudia at
S. Bonaventura (XI) ; and beyond it, viz. at the corner of the hill
above the Meta Sudans, it places the hippodromum.

References. — Pirro Ligorio, Cod. Bodl., f. .55. Cod. Turin., xiv. —
Francesco Bianchini, Palazzo dei Cesari, p. 139, sq. — Heinrich Jordan, Forma
Urbis Romce, tab. x. n. 44, p. 59. — Gaston Boissier, Promenades archiol., p.
132, n. 1. Melanges de V Ecole frangaise, avril 1893, pp. 101-104.

XXI. The pi'esence of a memorial to Sebastian, the gallant
officer who gave his life for his faith, in the very gardens (the
hippodrome of later days) in -which church traditions place the
scene of his execution, proves how well founded is the tradition.
The chapel, the earliest mention of which dates from the eleventh
century, was restored in 1636 by Prince Taddeo Barberini. We

1 Bolland, Acta SS., u., Jan., p. 278. — Mabillon, Mtis. ital., ii. pp.161,
574. — Jordan, Topographie, ii. 384.

THE CHURCH OF S. C.ESARIUS IN PAL AT 10

169

could not make our study of the Palatine complete without noti-
cing the three ecclesiastical buildings which made this cornel* of
the hill famous in the Middle Ages.

A. EccLESiA S. C.ESARii IX Palatio (the Imperial Christian
oratory and Christian representative of the classic Lararium). —
It is first mentioned in the time of Phocas (603), but it may be
older. The titular saint is believed to be Caesarius, an African
deacon, who suffered martyrdom at Terracina; but it is evident
that, whoever he may be, his name was selected to suit the place
to which the chapel belonged. Such coincidences, which almost
amount to jeu tie mots, are by no means fortuitous. The remains
of the villa near Velitrae, where Augustus passed his youth,
are actually called S. Cesario.^ The images of the Byzantine

Fig. 63. —The Church of S. Caesarius in Paliitio.

Emperors were exhibited in this chapel, as a mark of the power
they still claimed over the ancient capital of the Empire ; and
their keeping was intrusted to Greek monks ordinis saccitarum,
a name perhaps derived from the ample fi'ocks they wore. Saint
Saba junior, sent on a diplomatic mission from Amalfi to Otho

1 The following distich was engraved on the door of the church of S.
Martina, huilt on the site of the Martisforuin (Marforio): Martyrii gtstans
cirgo Martina coronam, Eiectv hiiic Martis numine templet tenes.

170 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

III. in 989-991, died while a guest of these monks, and his funeral
was attended by Otho's Empress Theophania. " The monks," says
Anselmus of Avelbury, " use the fermented bread for the Holy
Communion, instead of the azym, without the pope or the Roman
Catholics taking offense at it." The last mention of 8. Cesario
occurs in the fourteenth century, when there was but one offici-
ating priest left.

The site of this historical sanctuary, seen and described only
iive centuries ago, is not known to us ; but 1 am inclined to place
it among the remains of the so-called baths of Heliogabalus on
the Sacra Via, represented in the cut above.

Whatever may have been the object of this edifice in classic
times (third century after Christ), there is no doubt that it
was transformed into a church at the end of the fifth century.
At the time of its discovery in 1872 many particulars could be
traced which have now disappeared : patches of Byzantine mosaic
in the floor, traces of inscriptions and paintings, not to speak of
the secretarium and of the baptistery. The apse and the presby-
terium are still discernible, as well as many rooms and cells suited
for the abode of monks. No name has yet been given to this
church : that of S. Csesarius in Palatio seems the most appropriate,
especially if we consider how close it is to the Tui-ris Chartularia,
the great mediaeval stronghold of the popes.

B, MONASTERIUM QUOD PALLADIUM DICITUR (cliapcl and

monastery, variously called, of S. Maria in Pallara; of SS. Sebas-
tiano and Zotico ; of S. Sebastiano alia Polveriera ; of S. Andrea
in Palladio, etc.). — The first mention occurs in documents of the
year 1001,^ but it may belong to the Constantinian era, that is to
say, to the group of memorials raised under that Enq^eror to the
heroes and heroines of the last persecution of Diocletian.

The monastery was fortified, or, to speak more exactly, was
included in the Palatine fortifications of the Frangipani. In
describing the election of Pope Gelasius II. (1118), the "Liber
pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, vol. ii. p. 313) calls it locum iutissimum
infra domos Leonis el Cencii Frniapane.^ Later on it became
the official residence in Rome of the abbots of Monte Cassino.
Under Urban V. (1362-70) we find it intrusted to the care of a
single clergyman, Angelo Riccardelli. The ruins of the church,
on the walls of which the history of the martyrdom of S. Zoticus

1 Pertz, Monumenta Germanice historica, vol. iv. p. 7G8.

2 Ceiicio Frangipane is the same to whom the monks of S. Gregory leased
the Septizonium and the tower of the Circus Maximus in 1145.

THE MONASTERY OF S. MARIA IN PALLARA 171

was painted, are described by Baronio. At tlie time of Urban
VIII. the building was entirely profaned and turned into a farm-
house. Michele Lonigo saw on the spandrils of the front of the
tribune two remarkable figures : one representing a certain Petrus
illustris medicus, a mediaeval restorer of the church, offering a
model of it to S. Sebastian ; the other his wife Giovanna offering
other gifts to S. Zoticus.

Pope Barberini and his nephew Taddeo restored the chapel
in 1636, destroying at the same time all traces of the frescoes,
except those of the apse. They had been copied, however, in
1630 by Antonio Ecclissi; but he failed to catch the spirit and
the meaning of the subjects, as we can ourselves judge from the
facsimiles which are now exhibited in the chapel.

The frescoes of the apse represent the Saviour between SS. Law-
rence, Stephen, Sebastian, and Zoticus, the last two wearing the
costume of the court officers of the fifth century. There is a
lower belt of figures painted in the eleventh century at the expense
of the monk Benedictus.

The two columns of breccia corallina on the altar were probably
removed from the upper cloisters of the house of the Vestals. The
halaustri in front of it are cut in the rarest kind of lumachella.

The monastery had its own cemetery, where burial was carried
on in the Roman fashion, the corpses being protected by a double
row of tiles placed in a slanting position. The cemetery was dis-
covered on May 24, 1879.

C. The Turris Chartularia (the centre of the fortifications
of the Frangipani, in which the archives of the church were kept
for a long time). — The foundations, built of chips of marble, si-
lex, and travertine, rest on an ancient bed of concrete, and are
flanked by huge blocks of peperino, belonging to the temple of
Jupiter Stator. (See Book Til. § viii.) The date of its construc-
tion is not known. In 1167 Pope Alexander III., persecuted liy
the partisans of Barbarossa, found shelter in it. The name of
Chartularia is derived, according to Marini, from a manufacture
of papyrus-paper ; according to Cancellieri from the archives
which it contained. The cut (Fig. 64) shows the state of the
tower in the sixteenth century, to which it had been reduced by
Brancaleone in 1257. Valadier destroyed the rest in 1829. A
detailed account of it is given by Nibby, " Roma Antica," vol. ii.
p. 471.

References. — Louis Duchesne, Bulletin critique, 1885, p. 417. — Gio. Bat-
tista de Rossi, Bullet, crist., 1867, p. 15 ; and Notizie Scavi, December, 1883. —

172 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

Enrico Stevenson, // cimitero di Zutico, Modena, 1871, p. 71 ; and Bull. arch,
com., 1888, p. 295. — Mariano Avmellini, Chiese di Roma, '2d ed., pp. 517, 524.
— Heinricli Jordan, Topogi-aphie, vol. ii. p. 609. — Pasquale Adinolfi, Roma
neW eta di mezzo, vol. i. pp. 392-397.

M^^

Fig. 64. — The Torre Cartularla in tlie Sixteeiitli Century.

XXIT. The so-called Stadium (Xystus). — The name of
Stadium has been given to the circus-like ediiice, 160 metres long
and 47 wide, which sejmrates the house of Augustus from the Baths
of Septimius Severus. The giving of this name seemed justified
first by the oblong shape of the place, with a sliglitly cui-ved end ;
secondly, by the measure of 160 metres, which comes very near
that of a stadium (177.40) ; thirdly, by the two fountains which
occupy the place of the goals. Professor Marx, on the other side,
thinks the name to be wrong, and that the place was a garden, a
xystus with a gestatio, etc., attached to the house of Augustus.
The question is too technical and minute to be treated in these
pages. One theory does not absolutely exclude the other. For
the sake of clearness 1 shall follow the old denomination, without
taking any responsibility for it.

THE SO-CALLED STADIUM 173

The foundation of the Stadium is attributed to Doniitian while
rebuilding the Donius Augustana. The style of the brickwork is
the same in both, and so are some of the brick stamps from the
kilns of T. Flavins Clonius and T. Flavius Hermes, freedmen of
the Emperor. By a close examination of the structure in its
present state we can reconstruct its history from the time of Do-
mitian (if not of Augustus) to that of Theodoric. Originally it
was nothing but a level space of ground, perhaps laid out in grass
and flower-beds, inclosed by a wall slightly curved at the western
end. There was no portico, no seats, no steps, nothing character-
istic of a place of public meeting. Hadrian probably built the
two-storied portico, as shown by the style of masonry and by the
brick-stamps of the years 123-134:, found in great numbers in the
excavations of 1871 and 1893. Septimius Severus improved the
aspect of the Stadium by the addition of an Imperial tribune or
hejtedra. The lower arcades of the portico rest on half columns
coated with slabs of portasanta, the bases of which are hollow,
and fit into the masonry like half-rings. One of tlie capitals dis-
covered in 1868 by Yisconti is cut out of a block quarried a. d.
195 under the consulship of Scapula Tertullus and Tineius Cle-
mens. The portico, thei-efore, was included by Septimius Severus
in his general reconstruction and embellishment of the place. A
prefect of the city of the fourth century made other restorations,
if we may believe the words of a fragmentary inscription discov-
ered in 1878. Last of all. King Theodoric tried to stop the ruin
and the fall of this part of the Imperial buildings. His name has
been read many times on bricks discovered by Visconti in 1868
and by myself in 1877. Theodoric seems to have propped with
buttresses the walls which threatened to collapse, and to have
also transformed the plan and the destination of the building.
The arena, once used for athletic s^jorts or for flower-beds, was then
occupied by a large oval basin, which we would call a swimming-
bath were it not for the absence of a water-tight floor ; probably
it was meant for a small amphitheatre. It is highly interesting
to the student of the decline and fall of Imperial Rome to ex-
amine the work of Theodoric in its details. First of all, when
the basin was built, the floor of the Xystus was already covered
with a bed of rvibbish from two to three feet thick, as we can
certify by comparing the level of the original marble pavement
with that of the foundations of the oval. These foundations are
built of chips and blocks of porphyry, serpentine, giallo antico,
and, above all, of pieces of cipoUino columns, belonging to the

174 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

second floor of the portico. The Stadium therefore must have
been half ruined iu Tlieodoric's age, probably in consequence of
the earthquake mentioned in the. contemporary inscriptions of
the Coliseum.! Another circumstance deserving notice is that
on either side of the entrance to the ring there are two marble
pedestals removed from the house of the Vestals, and inscribed
with the name of Coelia Claudiana, virgo vestalis maxima. In
adapting them to their new object, Theodoric's masons did not
even take time and care to erase the name of the illustrious
abbess.

Nothing is known of the fate of the building in the Middle
Ages. The document of the eightli century produced by De Rossi
(Piante di Roma, p. 127), of which mention has been made
above, describes it as a gpnnasium, viz. locus diver-sis exercitationum
yeneribus deputatus. In the tenth or eleventh century it was occu-
pied by a colony of stone-cutters and lime-burners, whose sheds
and workshops were seen and described in the excavations of 1877.
The floor around the sheds was covered with chips and fragments
of statues and architectural marbles. When we recollect that
there were on each tier of the portico eighty-six columns, and
over a thousand feet of richly carved marble cornice, and marble
roofs, and marble parapets, floors, and incrustations, and number-
less statues and bas-reliefs, of which hardly a trace is left, the
magnitiide of the work of destruction needs no comment. There
is an altar left standing in the middle of the arena, which they
had begun to hammer and split, when, for a reason unknown to
us, the work of destruction was suddenly given up. To one
object only they seem to have paid respect, namely, the beautiful
statue of Juno, discovered March 3, 1878, and now exhibited in
the Museo delle Terme." We found it lying on two supports
(cuscini) of stone, on which it had been placed so carefully that
not even the most delicate folds of the peplum had suffered
damage from the operation. The photograph of this masterpiece
is given in the " Notizie " for 1879, pi. 1, n. 2. A regular search
for plunder was opened in 15.52 by Alessandro Ronconi. Julius III.
being engaged at that time in building his famous Villa Giulia,
outside the Porta del Pojiolo, a campaign was opened against the
antique monuments of the city by all those wishing to please the
pope, or to make money by dealing with him in marbles for the
palace, or in statues and inscriptions for the ornamental grounds
by which it was surrounded. The tombs of the Via Flaminia at
1 Corpus Inscr., vi. 1716, a, b.

THE SO-CALLED STADTU.lf

175

Torre di Quinto, the remains of the gardens of Domitia in tlie
Vigna of Bindo Altoviti (Prati di Castello), the Baths of the
Aqus Albula^ near Tivoli, the Baths of Agrippa behind the Pan-
tlieon, the Villa of the Acilii on the Pincian, the ruins of Porto and

Fig. G5. — Headless Statue of a Muse discovered in the so-called Stadium.

Ostia, the Temple of the Sun in the Villa Colonna, and the
stadium of the Palatine were put to ransom. Between ]\Iay and
July, 1552, Alessandi-o Ronconi sold to the pope columns of cipol-

176 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

lino, pedestals and bases, and even the gutter of white marble
which carried off the drippings from the roof of the portico.

Francesco Ronconi, son or nephew of Alessandro, was more suc-
cessful in his excavations of 1570. Their results are thus de-
scribed by Flaminio Vacca (Mem. 77) : " I remember the finding
in the Vigna Ronconi of eighteen or twenty mutilated statues of
Amazons (Danaids), somewhat larger than life-size. In the same
place, and exactly under the wine-press, which Ronconi was re-
pairing at the time, the Hercules of Lysippus was discovered."
The fate of the Danaids is unknown, except that in the account
books of Cardinal Ippolito d' Este the following entry has been
discovered by Professor Venturi : " March 5, 1.570 : To expense for
statues, seventy-five scudi to Francesco Ronconi and Leonardo
Sormano for a life-size statue of an Amazon."

Pius IX. in 1868, Commendatore Rosa in 1872, and the Italian
government in 1877, 1878, and 1893, have liberated the Stadium
once for all from its heavy pall of ruins. No other part of the
Palatine impresses us more vividly. There is no break in the
inclosure wall, nor in the colonnade of the lower portico, although
many of the shafts are only a few feet high : the remains of the
Imperial hexedra tower at tlie height of 120 feet. The east end
of the portico is especially well preserved and so are the meta?
in the shape of fountains, and some of the monuments which
mark the middle line of the arena.

The hexedra deserves a few words of description. There is a
ground floor, level with the arena, with a middle hall of good size,
and a smaller room on each side of it. The pavement, the marble
incrustations, and the paintings of the hall have been destroyed,
with the exception of the frescoes in the lunette of the vault.
They would hardly be noticeable, owing to their bad style and
imperfect preservation, were it not for a rare and perhaps unique
representation of a terrestrial globe fixed to the circle of the hori-
zon, which rests on three pegs. This globe shows how wide-spread
in Roman schools was the theory, known and supported since the
time of Aristotle, that the earth was a sphere.

This hall formed part of the castle of the Frangipani, facing
the monastery of SS. Andrea e Gregorio in Clivoscauri. In the ex-
cavations of 1871 some thirty skeletons of men who seem to have
perished in their youth were found at the foot of the wall on the
right ; some of the skulls bore marks of blows and cuts from
battle-axes or swords. We thought, while gazing at these remains,
that, during one of the bloody contests which every now and then

THE SO-CALLED STADIUM

111

marked the election of a pontiff, these young warriors had lost
their lives in the defense of the stronghold of the Septizoniuni,
and had been buried in haste under the Imperial tribune. The
vaulted ceiling of the hall must have been intact at that time,
because the skeletons were found covered by great masses of
masonry.

The small room on the right was never finished and its floor
never paved ; the other one, on the contrary, is nicely painted and

Fig. 66.

- Female head of Greek workmanship discovered in the so-called
Stadium.

has a mosaic floor with festoons and birds in black and white.
There are graflati on the plaster to the left of the entrance, among
which is a roll of names followed by a cipher. The names may be
of athletes or sportsmen, and the figures may refer to their con-
tests or to the victories won.

178 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

The Imperial box occupied the whole hemicycle on the upper
floor. A colonnade of syenite granite decorated its front, another
of pavonazzetto the curve of the apse. Shafts, capitals, bases, and
fragments of the entablature cover the floor in front of it. It is
probable that the Hercules of Lysippus discovered by Ronconi in
1570, and bought by Cosimo III. for the Pitti Palace, belonged to
one of the eleven niches of the hexedi-a.

This statue is the only one pertaining to the Stadium which has
been taken away from Rome. I have already spoken of the fate
of the Danaids discovered by the same Ronconi. The Muse found
by Visconti in 1868 and the Juno of 1878 are exhibited on the west
side of the quadrangle in the Museo delle Terme. In the exca-
vations of 1893 several remarkable works of art came to light,
namely, a headless statue of another Muse (Mai'ch 29), which has
been left on the sf)ot, at the east end of the north portico ; a bust
of Antoninus Pius; a torso of a Faun; and a superb female head
of pure Greek workmanship, of which I give a reproduction (Fig.
(36). It is the work of a great master of the fifth century b. c,
and may belong to one of the Muses by which the image of Apollo
C'itharoedus was surrounded in the neighboring temple. These
marbles are preserved in the Museo delle Terme.

Rej'eren.ces. — Carlo Liidov. Visconti, Di un nuovo graffito palatlno (in
Giorn. arcad., vol. Ixii.). — Visconti and \^s.\\c\a,m, Guida del Palatino, p. 87. —
Pietro Rosa, Relazione sulle scoperte archeologiche, p. 78, Rome, 1873. — Fabio
Gori, Archivio Stoi'ico, vol. ii. p. 374. — Henry Deglane, Gazette archeologique,
1888, p. 216 ; and Melanges Ecole /rang, d'e Rome, ix. 1889, pp. 184-229. —
Notizie degli Scavi, 1878, p. 66 ; 1879, tav. i. n. 2 ; 1893, pp. 31, 70, 117, 162 ;
1894, p. 94. — Josepli Sturm, Das kaiserliche Stadium, Wiirzlnirg, 1888. —
Monumenti antichi pubblicati per cura della r. Accademia dei Lincei, vol. v.,
189.5, p. 17. — Friedrich Marx, Das sogennante Stadium (in Jahrbuch des deut-
schen Instituts, 1895, p. 129). — Rodolfo Lanciani, Mittheil:, 1894, p. 16.—
Christian Huelsen, Ibid., 1895, p. 276.

XXIII. The Palace of Septimius Severus (sedes Severi-
anre). — Between the two summits of the Palatine, the Cermalus
and the Palatium, there is a marked difference in shape. The first
was, and is still for the most part, surrounded by cliffs which made
it inaccessible ; the second slopes down more gently towards the
Ciselian and the Piscina Publica ; and while the Imperial buildings
stop with the edge of the precipice on one side, they descend to
the bottom of the slope and to the level of the valley on the other.
Immense substructures were raised here by Septimius Severus and
Caracalla to reach the average level of the other palaces, as shown
by the following engraving from a photograpli, taken from the

THE PALACE OF SEPT IM J US SEVERUS

179

Aventine. The letters AA' mark the level of the platform ; B marks
the remains of the Palace of Severus, built on the platform ; C,
the curved end of the Stadium ; D, the remains of the palace of
Augustus.

180 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

No other section of the Palatine has sutt'ered as much as this one
from the action of time and from the hand of man. By measure-
ments on the spot, compared with descriptions and documents left
by those who saw the ruins in a better state, I have ascertained that
the ^des Severianse must have covered an area of '24,500 square
metres, and must have reached the height of fifty metres above the
pavement of the streets which inclosed them on two sides. This
gives a volume of one million and a quarter cubic metres, a perfect
mountain of masonry, of which only a few traces are left standing
to tell the tale. The edge of the substructures, marked A' in the
illustration, is celebrated for its fine view, which extends over
hills and dales as far as the coast of Ostia and Laurentum. (See
Ancient Rome, chap. v. p. 126.) In gazing at it from his lofty
point of vantage the reader must remember that he is only level
with the ground floor of the palace, which rose from twenty-five to
thirty metres above his head. The ruins were granted in 975
to the monks of S. Gregorio by Stephen of Hildebrand, then ruler
of Rome. We gather from the act of donation that there were
at that time thirty-eight arches still standing on the side of the
Circus, which were pojiularly called the -' Porticus Materiani ; "
others were visible in the adjoining property of John de Papa de
Septem Viis. Above this line of crypts and arcades there was a
strip of cultivated land, and still higher up the bathing apart-
ments of the palace (wit dicilur balneum imperatoris).

On March 18, 1145, the rviins, or at least the portion of them
between the stronghold of the Seiitizoniura and the tower which
had been raised over the triumphal Arch of Titus at the entrance
to the Circus Maximus, were leased to Cencio Frangipane. A
century later the monks thought it best suited to their interests
to break up the property and lease the crypts and arcades one by
one. Between 1215 and 1218 twenty-one were rented individually
for various purposes, which in progress of time were reduced to
one, for a hay-loft (ad retinendum fenuiii) ! One of the conditions^
in these contracts obliged the tenant to paint the coat-of-arms of
S. Gi'egory above the gate of the crypt, and keep it fresh and
bright. The abuse was suppressed in 1862 after the terrific fire
which consumed in one night thousands of bales of hay, and
threatened to destroy the whole mass of buildings.

This corner of the Palatine is connected with two well-known
names, that of Tommaso Inghirami da Volterra, surnamed Fedra,
a famous poet, orator, and scholar of the sixteenth century, and
that of Marcello Venusti, a painter and a pupil of Michelangelo,

THE SEPTIZONIUM 181

like Sebastiano del Piombo aud Daniele da Volterra. The first
owned the part of the palace called balneum imperatoris,
which he sold to Marcello Crescenzi, auditor of Clement VII.,
on January 22, 1533 ; the second owned the vigna (marked " dei
Benfratelli " in the plan facing p. 107), which he had bought on
April 24, 1560, from Concordia Maccarani, widow of Francesco
Cecchi.

The only work of art found — as far as I know — among these
ruins is a torso of Minerva with the aegis dotted with stars.
Paolo Biondi discovered it by accident on June 5, 1823, and it
was removed soon after to the Museo Yaticano. I may mention
also a precious gold fibula, a piece of Byzantine work of the sixth
century, discovered by Mr. Bliss at the top of the stairs leading
from the Stadium to the hexedra. It is now exhibited in one of
the ground rooms of the Museo delle Terme, together with the
" tesoro " of Castel Trosino.^

XXIV. The Septizonium. — Few remains of the Imperial
palace, or indeed of the whole city, are as widely known as the
Septizonium, and yet archaeologists are still discussing what the
name means and what was the real nature of the edifice. Vis-
conti (Guida del Palatino, pp. 4!) and 93) thinks that " Septizo-
nium " was the name of the front of the Palace of Severus facing
the south, which was ornamented with seven rows (septem zonce)
of columns, symbolizing the seven bands or atmospheres of hea-
ven.^ He supports the theory by two arguments : first, that the
hebdomadal cycle in honor of the seven planets came into fashion
and practical use about the time of Septimius Severus ; second,
that even in the Middle Ages the Septizonium was connected with
the sun and the moon. Jordan and others, on the other hand,
deny that there were seven tiers of columns : they fix the maxi-
mum at three, which is the number represented in the earliest
designs of this noble ruin. Now as the word septifolium indicates
a plant with seven leaves, and the word septimontium indicates a
group of seven hills, so the word septizonium must indicate, in the
present case, an edifice with seven bands or horizontal lines ; in
other words, with seven entablatures supjiorted by rows of columns
one above the other. It is also possible that the rows were only
six, if we reckon among the horizontal bands the basement and

1 Referexck. — Benedetto Mittarelli, Ann. Camaldul. (Mittheilungen,
1894, vol. ix. p. 4).

- Rawlinson, The Five Great Monarchies, vol. ii. pp. 269, 547.

182 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

the stejis of the structure. Visconti also remarks that we actually
have a bona fide septizonium in the Campanile of Pisa, the tiers
of which were only seven in the original design of Wilhelm and
Bonanno. The eighth was added about a century later. We must
remember in the last case that the three rows of columns, of
which the Septizonium was composed, reach only the height of
25.64 metres above the level of the Via Triuniphalis. The existing
remains of the Palace of Severus are at least 55 metres high ; thei-e-

Fig. 68. — Tlie Remains of the ^des Severianse and of the Septizonium, from a Sketch
by du Cerceau.

fore if the Septizonium was built, as we believe, to screen the con-
fused mass of structures behind, and to serve as a monumental
facade to the Palace of Severus, it must have been higher than
we supposed. This condition of things appears evident in the
above sketch by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, which I borrowed
from his volume of 1560, marked E, f/, 26 in the Cabinet des
Estampes, Paris.

As we have seen above (pp. 178, 179), the line AA' marks the
top of the substructures and the beginning of the palace. Sup-

THE SEPTIZONIUM 183

posing the Septizonium to have been only three stories high, it
would hardly have masked even the substructures.

The Septizonium was already in a ruinous condition at the end
of the eighth centiu-y. The inscrij^tion engraved in the frieze of
the lower colonnade numbered 280 letters, of which 118 were
copied by the so-called Einsiedlensis on the extreme left, towards
the Circus Maximus ; 45 by the anonymous Barberinianus (Cod.
XXX. 25) on the extreme right, towards the Arch of Coustantine.
There was consequently a gap of 117 letters between the two ends
of the ruins, which were respectively called '• Septem solia niaior "
and " Septem solia minor." The total length of the building being
90 or 95 metres, two fifths of it had already collapsed in the eighth
centiuy. On July 22, 975, John, abbot of S. Gregory, was allowed
to destroy the minor portion ; but he did not take advantage of
the perniission. In the year 1084 Henry IV., while besieging the
fortress of Septem Solia, in which Rusticus, nephew of Gregory
Vn., had sought refuge, caused the fall of many columns (quam-
plurimus columnas subvertit). In 1257 the larger portiofi was
desti'oyed by Senatore Brancaleone. The last remnants disap-
peared in the winter of 1588-89 by order of Sixtus V., and at the
hand of his favorite architect Domenico Fontana. The destruc-
tion cost the pope 905 scudi, but he recovered more than his
money's worth by making use of the materials, whether blocks of
peperjno and travertino or columns of rare marbles.

Thh'ty-three blocks of stone were vised in the foundations of the
pedestal of the obelisk in the Piazza del Popolo ; 104 of marble
in the restoration of the column of Marcus Am-elius, including
the base of the bronze statue of S. Paul ; 15 in the tomb of the
pope in the Cappella del Presepio at S. Maria Maggiore ; and an
equal number in that of Pius V. The staircase of the Casa dei
jNIendicanti, or workhouse, by the Ponte Sisto ; the washing-
house, or lacalore, in the baths of Diocletian ; the door of the
Palazzo della Cancellaria ; the north facade of the Lateran Palace,
its court and staircases ; and the church of S. Girolamo degli
Schiavoni, had all theii" share of the spoils of the Septizonium.

Keferexces. — Heinrich Jordan, Bullettino dell' Instituto, 1872, p. 145;
and Forma Urbis Romce, pp. 37-41, tab. viii. n. -38. — Antonio Bertolotti,
Artisti Lombardi, vol. i. p. 87: Libro xix. de! cav. Fontana per la disfattura
dolla scola di Vergilio. Milan, Hoepli, 1881. — Christian Huelsen, Das Sep-
thoniu?n, etc.: xlvi. Programm ziim Winckelmannsfeste der archaeologischen
(Jesellscliaft zu Berlin. 188G. — Enrico Stevenson, II settizonio Severiano
(Bullettino comm. arch., 1888, p. 269, tav. xiii.). — Rodolfo Lanciani, E
Falazzo Maggiore (in Mittheilungen, vol. ix., 1894, p. 4).

184 TFIE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

XXV. The Water Supply and Reservoirs of the Palace.

— Nothing is known of the water supply of the Palatine before
the time of Domitian. The fact that Augustus would take his
siesta in summer months " by the fountain of the peristyle," proves
that his house was well provided with water from the time of its
first construction. After doubling the extent of the Imperial
domain on the hill, Domitian carried a powerful siphon from the
reservoir of the Arcus Ca?limontani (Aqua Claudia) by the temple
of Claudius, to the highest point of the hill by S. Bonaventura.
The pressure must have been enormous, as the siphon crossed
the valley between the two hills at a point 41 metres (41.16) be-
low the feeding reservoir. It luust have reached four atmospheres.
Remains of Domitian's hydraulic work were discovered in 1658
and 1742. The pipe, made of solid sheets of lead, and oval in
shape, measured about a foot in diameter, and could carry 276
unities {oiicie) of water. The laying of the siphon had been
inti'usted to the care of M. Arrecinius Clemens, the brother-in-law
of Titus and consul a. d. 73, and its construction to a plumber
named Postumius Ameiimnus. We have been able to follow the
course of the water not only across the valley, but through the
various sections of the Imperial palace. The pipe supplying the
house of Augiistus bore the inscription dornvs avgvstan.e and
the name of Evhodas, the procurato?' aquanun; that supplying
the house of Germanicus, the names of Eutychus, procurator, and
Hymnus, plumber ; that of the Stadium the names of Epagathus,
procurator, Martialis and Alexander, plumbers, and so forth.

Domitian's sijihon is thrown into the shade by the exploit of
Septimius Severus. After rebuilding, repairing, and connecting in

^.S.Bonaaentura Via di s.\ Gregorio

TsV.oo)

■ DDQDDQQDGQQGG

; PALATINE

250.00-

SS.Ciouannl e
....Paolo

^(53.28)

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQ,3B.2a,
QDDQnQQjQQQQQDQ

QQQQ^<2..o„

one mass the various sections of the palace, damaged by the fire
of Commodus; after raising another palace of his own, to which
the Septizonium served as a fa9ade ; after providing the Imperial

THE WATER SUPPLY OF THE PALACE

185

residence with therms of great size and magniticence, he carried
the channel of the CLiudia from the top of tiie Ca?lian to the top
of the Palatine, making it span the valley at a prodigions height.
The viaduct, composed of four lines of arcades, measured at least
425 metres in length and 42 metres in height. The sketch on the
opposite page represents the portion above the modei-n Via di S.
Gregorio. The five arches on the left on the road, shaded in black,
are still in existence ; the six on the other side were destroyed, on
November 14, 1596, by Caprizio Cornovaglia (Cornwall), the owner
of what is now' called "Orto Botanico."

The water was stored in the great reservoir, afterwards turned
into a refectory for the monks of S. Bonaventura. Among the
discoveries made when the convent was built, Bartoli mentions a
spigot of Corinthian brass weighing ninety pounds.

References. — Rodolfo Lanciani, / rnmenliirii di Frontino, etc., Koina,
Salviucci, 1880, pp. 211, 234.— Kiddlliiiu Viiiuti, Homa antiai, vol. i. p. 38.

XXVI. Twomore ^v» ^,^n>^. ,.,.•,,„ .,, „ .,i4p-

edifices, or rather
two parts of the
same edifice, remain
to be examined be-
fore we leave the
Palatine : the P.*>
DAGOGiuM and the
DoMus Gklotiaxa.
The Domus Gelo-

tiana was purchased
and embodied in the
crown property by
Caligula, not for
want of additional
space and accommo-
dation, but to satisfy
his passion for the
races of the circus,
and his aifection for
the squadron of the

greens, /actio prasi- h.hS

na, in whose stables -v ^ . i ■ ^^ . .

(by SS. Lorenzo e ^^^ ^'- ^^-^^^^^

Damaso) he used Fig. to. - Plau of the Domus Gelotiana.

to spend days and nights indulging in all kinds of excesses.

The

186 THE RUINS AND EXCAVATIONS OF THE PALATINE

hoiuse adjoined the Circus and the Carceres, where the riders were
massed on race days, so that it was easy for the young prince to
join his friends without leaving the Imperial palace. The Domus
Gelotiana is composed of two parts : one adjoining the Circus,
which is still in private hands, and is entered from the gate No.
45 Via dei Cerchi. It contains the vestibule, the atrium, the tab-
linum, and the triclinium. The inner part, which is Government
property, contains many smaller apartments opening on a second
courtyard or peristyle, and it has become famous for the graffiti

^KlN90l

Fig. 71. — One of the Walls of the Paedagogium with Greek and Latin GraflSti.

which cover its walls. We learn from them that, after the death
of Caligula, the Domus Gelotiana, or, at least, this inner part of it,
was turned into a training-school for court pages, under the name
of Psedagogium. The name occurs very often in the graffiti : Co-
rinthus exit de pccdagogio ! Marianus Afer exit de jxedagogio ! as
if the boys wanted to chronicle their liberation from the rod of
the master on the walls which had long imprisoned them. There
was another amusing allusion to the hardships of school life,
composed of a vignette and its explanation. The vignette repre-
sented a donkey turning the mill, and the legend said, Labora,

THE PyEDAGOGIUM 187

aselle, quomodo ego lahoravi et proderit tihi. " Work, work, little
donkey, as I have ^A'orked myself, and thou shalt be rewarded
for it." This graffito was destroyed by an unscrupulous tourist
in 1886. The most interesting of the set is the one representing
a caricature of the Crucifixion of our Lord, discovered at the be-
ginning of the year 1857, and removed soon after to the Kirche-
rian Museum of the Collegio Romano.

The front part of the house, entered by the Via dei Cerchi, No.
45, was partially excavated in 1888, when a remarkable set of
fresco paintings was discovered in the dining-liall, marked A in
Fig. 70.

The figures, varying in height from 1.60 metres to 1.80, rep-
resent butlers and waiters in the act of leading the guests to the
banqueting table. The tricliniarch with a rod in his hand stands
by the entrance door, whilst other men are carrying napkins,
wreaths, silver plate, etc. It is to be regretted that such an inter-
esting place should not be accessible to the public, and that the
front and back sections of this historical house shovdd not be ex-
cavated at one and the same time. The discovery of the triclinium
has been illustrated by Marchetti in the " Xotizie degli Scavi,"
1892, p. 44 ; and by Hiielsen in " Mittheilungen," 1894, p. 289.

Literature on the graffiti of the Pa?dagogiiim. — Raffaele Garrucci, //
crocifisso graffito nella casa dei Cet'dri. Rome, 1857; and GraJ/iti di I'oinpei,
p. 97, plates 30, 31. — Ferd. Becker, Das sjjott crucifix d. roin. Kaiserj)al<i.<le.
Breslau, 1866. — Franz Xaver Kraus, Das sjwttci-ucijix iwin Palatin. Freiburg
im Breisgau, 1872. — G. Battista de Rossi, Btdl. Inst, 1857, p. 275; Btdl. crist.,
18G3, p. 72; 1867, p. 75. — C Ludovico Visconti, Di un nitovo graffito palati no
(in Giornale areadico, vol. Ixii.); and SuUa interpretazione deUa sigle. V. D.
N. dei graffiti 2^alntini. Rome, 1868. — Visconti and Lanciani, Guida del
Pahitino, p.'lS. — Fabio Gori, in Giornale arcndico, vol. lii. p. 45. — Rodolfo
Lanciani, Ancient Rome, p. 119. — Liiigi Correra, Graffiti di lioma (in Bull,
com., 1893, p. 245; 1894, p. 89).

BOOK III

A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA FROM THE COLISEUM TO
THE CAPITOLINE HILL

I. The Sacra Via. — The line and direction of the Sacra Via
in Imperial times is no longer a matter for discussion, because,
since April 21, 1882, its pavement has been laid bare from one
end to the otlier, together with the remains of the edifices which
bordered it, of the monuments in honor of different worthies
which decorated its pavement, and of the drains which ran under
it. The topography of this " queen of streets " was, however, very
different in Kingly or early Republican times. It can be made
out in two ways : from the remains of Kingly or Republican
buildings which ai:)pear here and there, below the level of the
Imperial ones (for instance, under the house of the Vestals and
under the Basilica Julia), or from the configuration of the ground.
Geological analysis proves, among other things, that the primitive
road crossed the ridge of the Velia, not by the Arch of Titus, as
it did afterwards, but fifty metres north of it, where the church of
S. Francesca Romana now stands. The furrow followed by the
road was discovered by Nibby in 1827-32 by means of borings
through the clay and marl strata of which the ridge is composed.
The same archaeologist found remains of private houses under the
pavement of the present or Imperial road. From these pieces of
evidence we can conclude that the primitive Sacra Via left the
hollow of the Coliseum at a point equidistant from the Colossus
(I in plan) and the Meta Sudans (II), — I mention these monu-
ments to give the reader some " points de repere ; " crossed the
depression between the Palatine and the Oppian on the line of the
axis of the Templum Rom;Tj et Veneris (IV) ; descended the north-
ern slojie towards the Forum along the Porticus INIargaritaria
(XII) ; then turned diagonally towards the Vicus Tuscus (XXIX),
passing l)etween the Temple of Vesta (XIX) and the habitation of
the Pontifex Maximus (Regia, XVIII). From the junction of the

MAP OF SACRA VIA fu, 7Z

R Lanriam efe/m

THE SACRA VTA 189

Vicus Tuscus to the Capitoliiie hill no changes seem to have taken
place. The whole course of the primitive Sacra Via was irregular
and winding as becomes a much frequented path over undulating
ground not encumbered by buildings or obstacles of any kind;
but as soon as buildings began to rise on either side, it took a
definite shape, and angles were substituted for curves until the
street was made to turn at a right angle no less than five times.
The transformation was obviously accomplished by degrees : first
in 42 B. c, when the Temple of Cfesar was raised on the spot
wliere his body had been incinerated, secondly after the fire of
Nero, thirdly after that of Commodus, and lastly after that of
Carinus. Each of these calamities gave rise to a new " piano
regolatore."

After the fall of the Empire, when traffic was practically reduced
to its primitive state, and the glorious monuments of this " celeber-
rinuis urbis locus " crumbled into dust, the bend round the Temple
of Ca?sar was abandoned, and the traffic resumed the ancient line,
which was the easiest and shortest. This late path is still marked
by bits of rough pavement made up with old worn-out paving-
stones, blocks of marble, and architectural fragments.

The primitive path was named Sacra Via (tnfima, summa, clivus
sneer) because three very sacred hut temples stood on its border :
tlie hut for pvil)lic fire, or Temple of Vesta, that in which the
Penates brought from Troy were kept, and a third inhabited by
the high priest. The people adopted the form Sacra Via, instead
of Via Sacra, and its inhabitants were called Sacravienses. In the
early days of Rome it was divided into three sections, the first
from its origin near the Sacellum Strenia; (site unknown, but near
the (Jiardino delle Mendicant!) to the house of the "rex sacrifi-
culus " on the top of the ridge ; the second from this house to the
Kegia or habitation of the Pontifex Maximus ; the third from
the Regia to the summit of the Capitoline hill. In Imperial
times the ascent to this hill was called cliinis Capitoiinits. Its total
length from the Meta Sudans to the foot of ascent was 790 metres.
The street retained its name at least up to the ninth century after
Christ, as certified by the " Liber Pontificalis " in the Life of
Paschal I. (817-824, "ecclesia Cosmoe et Daniiani in Via Sacra"),
but its classic meaning was altogether forgotten. The church of
S. Cosma and that of S. Adriano were called "in Via Sacra"
because they were on the line of the great pontifical processions,
which entered the Forum by the Via di Marforio and left it in the
direction of the Arch of Titus.

190 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

LiTERATUKE. — Aiiibrosch, Siudien und Andeutungen. Breslau, 1839. —
Adolf Becker, De Muris, p. 23; and Topographie, pp. 219-243. — Antonio
Nibby, Roma nell' anno 1838, part i. vol. i. p. 49. — Luigi Canina, Bcscrizione
del Foro. Kome, 1845. — Heinrich Jordan, Capitol, Forum und Sacra Via,
Berlin, Weidmann, 1881; and Topograpliie, vol. i. p. 155. — J. Francis
Nichols, Tht Roman Forum, pp. 277-299. — J. Henry Parker, The Via Sacra
in Rome, London, 1876.

II. The Colossus (colossal statue of the Sun) (I in plan). —
The platform of the Velia, from the "summa Sacra Via" to the
site of the amphitheatre, was occupied by the vestibule of the
Golden House of Nero, a square portico with a colossal bronze
statue in the centre. The statue had been cast in Rome by Zeno-
dorus in tlie likeness of Nero ; but after the death of the tyrant
the head had been changed into that of the radiant Sun, 1 he face
beai'ing a resemblance to that of Titus. Vespasian generously
rewarded the artist who had thus served the interests of the
Flavian dynasty. When Martial wrote the second epigram, "De
spectaculis," about a. d. 75, tlie Golden House had already been
pulled down, and the ground near the Colossus seems to have
been occupied by scaffoldings connected with the work of the new
amphitheatre. The statue remained in its place until 121 , when
Hadrian, having chosen the site for his Temple of Venus and
Rome, caused it to be placed neai'er to the Coliseum. I'he dis-
placement was effected by the architect De(me)trianus with the
help of twenty-four elephants, the statue remaining all the while
uiiright and suspended from the movable scaffolding. The diffi-
culty of the operation may be estimated by the fact that the
bronze mass was 30.5 metres high. The seven rays round the
head, each 6. 68 metres long, were a later addition. The " Vita
Comm." affirms that the head was changed once more by Commo-
dus to bear his own likeness. It is represented in coins of Alexan-
der Severus and Gordianus. The last classic mention occurs in
the Chronicon of Cassiodorus ; the first mediaeval record (V) in a
document of a. d. 972 (" domus posita Romse regione quarla non
longe a Colosso "). The pedestal of the Colossus (I in plan) was
discovered by Nibby in 1828. It is built of concrete with brick
facing, once covered with marble slabs.

Literature. — Antonio Nibby, Roma nelV anno 1838, part i. vol. ii. p.
442. — Fr. Morgan Nichols, The Roman Forum, p. 294. — J. H. Parker,
The Via Sacra in Rome, London, 1876, plate 38. — Donaldson, Arvhiicctura
numism., n. 79. — De Rossi, Piante di Roma, p. 76, n. 1.

III. Meta Sudans (II in plan), a fountain called 7nf'ta from

THE ARCH OF CONST ANT IX E 191

its shape like a goal of the circus, or from its location at the
meeting point of four regions, II, III, IV, X, and sudans from the
playing of its water in sprays and cascades. The Chronicon of
Cassiodorus names Domitian as its founder, and the year 97 as the
date of its construction. Perhaps Domitian only enlarged and
embellished a fountain akeady existing, because a meta of pyra-
midal shape appears in the medal struck in the year 80 for the
dedication of the Coliseum ; and besides Seneca, who died in 65,
mentions the neighborhood of the foimtain as the place where
people would try new bugles and flutes, and make an unbearable
noise (Ep. Ivi. 5). The round basin of the present day dates from
the time of Constantine, When Ficoroni excavated it for the
first time in 1713, there Avere six metres of rubbish around the
meta. It is represented in the marble mouth of the well of the
Vatican museum, Corridoio delle Iscrizioni, compartment XIII.,
right side, the photograph of which is marked Xo. 4(371 in Park-
er's collection. Xibby, however, declares that this meta is the
work of a modern restorer. A church of S. Maria de Meta is
mentioned by Armellini (Chiese, 2d ed. p. 522).

LiTKRATUKE. — Coheii, Motin. imp., vol. i. p. •i62, n. 18-t; p. 359, n. 1G3. —
Donaldson, Arch, numism., n. 79. — Ficoroni, Vestujit di Roma, vol. i. p. 3G. —
Allierto Cassio, Corso delle acque, vol. ii. p. 194. — Antonio Nibby, Roma nell'
anno 183S, part i. vol. i. p. 370.

IV. The Arch of Coxst.\xtixe (III in plan). — The origin
of this noble monument is described in " Pagan and Christian
Rome," p. 20. It was raised in a. d. 815 to commemorate the vic-
tory of the first Christian Emperor over ^Maxentius, with marbles
taken at random from other pul)lic and private monuments. The
bas-reliefs of the Attic, the statues of the Dacian kings, the eight
medallions above the side arches, the eight columns of giallo
antico, and the greater part of the entablature were removed from
a triumphal arch of Trajan, probably from the " Arcus divi Trai-
ani " which spanned the Via Appia near the Porta Capena. A
piece of the inscription, probably from the same arch, is to be
found in the Coliseum. ^

The two bas-reliefs on each side of the middle passage are at-
tributed by Xibby to the time of Gordianus the younger, all the
rest to the time of Constantine. The inside of the strticture is also
built with a great variety of materials taken from monuments
belonging to the Fabii and to the Arruntii, the carvings and
1 Bull. arch, com., 1880, 217, n. 9.

192 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

inscriptions of which are still perfect. The bricks alone are con-
temporary with Constantine, and are stamped with the well-known
seal OF(Jicin(e) s(«crfc) R^atiorris).

The name of the pious Emperor saved the arch from destruction
in the darkest period of mediaeval history. A little church dedi-
cated to the Saviour also shielded it from damage ; it was called
S. Salvatore de Trasi from the name of Arcus Traseus, or Arco
de' Trasi, given to the monument in the twelfth century, perhaps
from the statues of the Thracian (Dacian) jirisoners which stand
on the attic.

Giovio and others have accused Lorenzino de' Medici, the mur-
derer of Duke Alessandro, of having decapitated the statues and
some of the bas-reliefs of the arch. He was capable of the deed, but
the charge is not proved. The heads were not removed to Flor-
ence : in fact, no one has ever traced them ; one only was found
buried deep in the ground at the foot of the arch about 1795.
The state of the sculptures in the sixteenth century is most care-
fully reproduced in a drawing of the Laing collection at Edin-
burgh (vol. xi. pi. 24). Paul III. removed the earth which covered
the arch up to the plinth of the columns, to prepare the way for
the triumphal entry of Charles V. Clement VIII. laid hands on
one of the columns of giallo antico, to make it pair with another
from the Forum of Trajan, and placed both under the organ in the
transept of the Lateran.

Literature. — Corpus Inscr., vol. vi. n. 1139. — De Rossi, Bull, crht., 18G.3,
p. 49. — Rohault de Floiirv, L'aix de Constaniin (in Revue archeol., Sept.
1803, p. 250). — Wilhelm Henzen, Bull, inst., 1863, p. 183. — Antonio Nibby,
Roma nell' anno 1838, part i. vol. i. p. 443. — Beschreibumj der Stadt Rom, iii.
1, p. 314. — Antonio Guattani, iJown rfescrzVia, i. p. 41. — Theodor Schreiber,
Berichten der k. sachs. Geselhclwft der Wissenschaften, April, 1892, p. 121. —
Eugfene Petersen, Mhtheil., 1889," p. 314.

The " conservatori " of Rome and Clement XTT. ordered a gen-
eral restoration of the arch in 17S1. The works were superin-
tended by Marchese Alessandro Capponi, who made use of a co-
lossal piece of the marble entablature of the Neptunium which
had just been found near the Piazza di Pietra. The missing column
was replaced, although of different marble ; the heads of nine
Dacian kings and one of the statues (the third on the S. Gregorio
side) were replaced. The position of the latter was occupied by a
fragment which is now kept in the Capitoline museunt. The words
" ad arcvm" are engraved on its plinth, an address for the, porters
who had to remove it from the sculptor's studio to the arch.

THE ARCH OF COXSTANTINE

19^

194 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

The Arch of Constantine has been a favorite subject for artists
since the early Renaissance. It appears many times in the back-
ground of famous pictures, like the " Dispute of S. Catherine,"
by Pinturicchio, in the Appartamento Borgio ; or in the " Castigo
del Fuoco Celeste," by Sandro Botticelli, in the Sistine Chapel, of
which I give a rejiroduction.

When I first visited the staircase and the rooms in the attic
story, on February 27, 1879, the first signature of a visitor which
struck me at the first landing was that of INIichelangelo, dated
14U4: (genuine ?). Antonio da Sangallo the elder and Cherubino
Alberti have also left accounts of their exploration of those rooms.

V. vEdes Rom.k et Veneris (Temple of Venus and Rome)
(IV in plan), designed and built by Hadrian on the site of the
vestibule of the Golden House. — As the Temple of Castor and
rollux was named in progress of time from Castor alone, so that
of Venus and Rome is called simply templum Urhis by the " Vita
Hadriani," Urhis fanum and delubrum Itomce by others. The foun-
dation stone was laid on the birthday of Rome, April 21, a. d.
131, and the dedication solemnized in 135. Antonio Nibby, who
led the excavations of the temple from November, 1827, to Decem-
ber, 1829, found many brick stamps of 123, and a few of 124. Dion
Cassius relates that, when the work was already in progress, Ha-
drian submitted his drawings to Apollodorus of Damascus, the
illustrious architect of Trajan's Forum, whom in a fit of jealousy
he had already banished to a remote island. The architect did
not disguise his opinion : the statues, he said, were too large for
their niches, and the temple ought to have been raised much
higher so as to be seen to greater advantage from the side of the
Clivus Sacer. This arrangement, besides, would have permitted
the construction of caves and vaults under the foundation, use-
ful botli for storing the machinery of the ampbitheati-e and for
preparing it out of sight for immediate use. It is related that the
great man paid for his criticism with his life.

The temple was brought to perfection by Antoninus Pius, on
whose medals it appears with the legend romae aeternae v^e-
NERi FELici, perha^js the very one engraved on either front of the
structure. Having been greatly injured by fire in 807, it was re-
stored by Maxentius, whose brick stamps, 0¥F(icina') s(ummae')
R(ei), F(ecj<) DOM(i7ms), ai"e found in great numbers in the walls
of the double cella. Ammianus Marcellinus includes it among the
1 Nichols, The Roman Forum, p. 294.

THE TEMPLE OF VENUS AND ROME

195

marvels of Kome (a. d. 356). In 391 it was closed and abandoned
to its fate, but the solidity of the building was such that, two cen-
turies later, we find it still intact. Pope Honorius I. (625-040)

196 A WALK THROUGH THE SACBA VIA

obtained from the Emperor Heraclius the gilt-bronze tiles of the
roof, which he removed to that of S. Peter's. Many of these
were carried off by the Saracens in the loot of 846 ; those left on
the roof of the nave, seen and described by Grimaldi in 1606,
must have been melted by Paul V., together with the other bronzes
of the fountain of Symmachus. (See Pagan and Christian
Rome, p. 136.) Paul I. (757-767) built a church in honor of SS.
Peter and Paul on the vestibule of the temple facing the Forum,
where the fall of Simon the Magician was believed to have taken
place. Two small cavities in one of the paving-stones of the
Sacra Via were shown to the faithful, as the marks left by the
knees of the prince of the Apostles, while jiraying for the discom-
fiture of the impostor. The stones are still kept in the present
church of S. Francesca Romana, on the right of the tomb of
Gregory XI. The chapel of Paul I. did not last long : at the
time of Leo IV. (847-8.55) its place was occupied by the church of
S. Maria, called Nova, in opposition to that of S. Maria Antiqua,
still existing, behind the remains of the Augustaeum. The
present edifice, dedicated to S. Francesca Romana, dates from the
time of Paul V., 1612.

All these chapels and churches were built at the expense of the
temple. Nibby says that the bed of rubbish immediately above
the antifpie pavement was composed of architectural fragments,
split and charred ; that he found in 1810 a lime-kiln near the Arch
of Titus, bordered by pieces of precious columns of porphyry — a
material refractory to fire — and filled with sculptiired fragments ;
and that, while restoring the church of S. Francesca in 1828 and
1829, he found the walls built with pieces of marble ; yet enough
plunder was left among the ruins of the temple to satisfy the
greed of scores of modern excavators. Flaminio Vacca could pur-
chase about 1.575 slabs of Greek marble from the pavement of the
cella facing the Coliseum, which he descril)es as a " cosa stupenda."
Ligorio says that pieces of columns and of the entablature found
by the monks of S. Maria, in adding a wing to their convent, were
made use of in the " fabbrica di S. Pietro." Other beautiful mar-
bles are described and designed by the Gobbo da Sangallo. An
oval basin of a fountain of oriental granite, 5.57 metres in diame-
ter, discovered also in the sixteenth century, was " ruinato dalle
scellerate mani " of the excavators. At last, when these vandals
thought that nothing was left to plunder above ground, they at-
tacked the foundations of the portico and temple, which were built
of blocks of travertine or peperino ! Not one is left in situ. The

THE TEMPLE OF VENUS AND ROME

197

annexed plan explains the form and architectiu-e of the building,
The portico inclosing the temenos had columns of gray granite,
seventy-two pieces of which have escaped destruction, simply
because they were unfit for the lime-kiln, and too hard to be made

Fig. 75. — Bas-relief with the Temple of Venus and Rome.

use of. If these columns were raised into their former position,
as has been done with those of the Basilica Ulpia, the Temple of
Venus and Eome wovild become the most picturesque ruin of this
classic district. The peristyle of the double cella was made of
shafts of cipollino, six feet in diameter. There is one fragment
lying on the northeast side of the platform, which the stone-cut-
ters engaged in the repairs of S. Paolo fuori le Mura had begun

198 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

to saw, to make discs for the pavement of that church. This last
act of destruction was stojiped by Carlo Fea, then Superintendent
of Antiquities, who broke the saw and put the stone-cutters to
flight.

The drains which run parallel with the wings of the portico are
beautifully j^reserved ; they are 2.70 metres high and 0.90 wide, and
the tiles of their roofs are marked with the consulates of Paetinus
and Apronianus (a. d. 123), and Servianus III. and Varus (125).
The north corner of the platform is built over the remains — still
visible through a trap-door — of a jirivate mansion. They include
part of the atrium with the impluvium paved with pieces of blue,
green, and white enamel.

The temple is represented in a bas-relief, formerly in the Muti
house. Piazza della Pescheria, and now half in the Museo delle
Terme, half in the Lateran ! An illustration of it was given by
Professor Petersen in the " Mittheilungen " of 1896. (See Fig. 75.)

Literature. — Dion Cassius, Ixix. 5. — Amm. Marcelliu., xvi. 10. — Fla-
miiiio Vacca, Memorie, n. 73. — Carlo Fea, Miscdlanea, vol. i. p. 85, note («);
Varieta di Notizie, p. 137. — Nibby, Roma antica, vol. ii. p. 723. — J. H.
Parker, Archceology of Rome, vol. ii. p. 86. — Rodolfo Lanciani, Z' itinerario
di Ehmedlen, pp. 62-67; Melanges de I' Ecole frangaise de Rome, IBlll, p. 164,
pi. 3. — F. M. Nichols, The Roman Forum, p. 293.

VI. So-called Baths of Heliogabalus, and Church of S.
Cesakio in Palatio (V in plan). See p. 169.

VII. TuRRis Chautularia (VI in plan). See p. 171.

VIII. The Temple of Jupiter Stator (VII in plan). — The
Tiu'ris Chartularia marks most likely the site of the Temple of
Jupiter Stator, and the blocks of j)eperino of which its founda-
tions are built belong probably to the cella. The temple vowed by
Komulus, during his first encounter with the Sabines in tlie valley
of the Forum, was only built in 296 by M. Atilius Regulus.
Classics place it near the Mugonia gate of the Palatine, at the
highest point of the [Nova Via, near the highest point of the
Sacra Via, and within the limits of the fourth region. The four
indications concur in loca.ting the temple on the site of the Turris
Chartularia, side by side with the Arch of Titus ; and in precisely
this position do we find it in the famous pictorial bas-relief of the
Haterii, exhibited in the tenth room of the Lateran ISluseum.
According to this sculptural sketch, the temple was of the Co-
rinthian order, and hexastyle, the front facing the north. It is

THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER STATOR

199

liai'dly necesyary to reniiud the reader that a certain mass of
concrete at the entrance of Domitian's palace on the Palatine hill,

Fig. 76. — Arch of Titus — Temple of Jupiter Stator in the Bas-relief of the Haterii.

described in books and shown to visitors as the Temple of Stator,
lias nothing in common witli it. That mass of concrete belongs
to the foundations of one of the towers built by the Frangipani
to make their Palatine stronghold a locus tullssinius.

I^ITKRATUI^E. — I'jiiil Briinn, Annall dcW Inst., vol. xxi. 1849, p. 370. —
Ileinricli Jordan, Topoyrajihie, \~, p. 277. — Wolfgang Helhig, Guide to the
Public Collections of Rome, vol. i. p. 4f)G, n. (571. — Fuvma f'rbis, pi. xxix.

11 \'igna Barberini. S. Sebastiano Lii Pallara

LlLLUiJiLL

TKMPI.E OF .IUpItEB STATOB f

Fig. 77. — Plan of Neighborhood of the Arch of Titus.

IX. The Arch of Titus (VIII in plan). — It stands at the
west corner of the great platform of Venus and Rome at the

200

A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

highest point of the Sacra Via; it is called, therefore, Arcus in
Sacra Via Summa in the bas-relief of the Haterii reproduced above.

The title of divus (deified) given to the conqueror of Judaea in the
inscription of the attic (Corpus, vol. vi. n. 945), as well as the relief
of his apotheosis, shows that the monument was finished only after

THE ARCH OF TITUS 201

his death. The style is that prevalent in Domitian's time, with
a superabundance of carving in the architectural lines. Having
been included in the fortifications of the Frangipani, it suffered
great damage during the fights of the twelfth and thirteenth cen-
turies. To insm-e its safety after the demolition of the tower and
houses by which it was partly supported, Giuseppe Valadier took
down the whole structure piece by piece in 1822, strengthened the
foundations, and reconstructed it in its present form, completing
the missing parts in travertine so as to make them easily dis-
tinguishable from the originals, which are in pentelic marble. The
bas-reliefs on the left represent the triumph of Titus, those on the
right the spoils taken from the Temple of Zion, like the seven-
branched candlestick (from which comes the name of Arcus Septem
Lucernarmn given to the arch in the Middle Ages), the golden
table, the silver trumpets, etc. These spoils were deposited in the
Temple of Peace in a. d. 75, five years after the conquest of Judaea,
together with a marvellous collection of works of art, which in-
cluded a statue of Naukides fi'om Argos, a figure of the Nile sur-
rounded by the sixteen infants all cut in a single block of basalte
ferrigno, the lalysos, a celebrated pictiire of Protogenes, the ScyUa
of Nikomachos, the Hero of Parrhasios, and many other master-
pieces. All these, except the Jewish relics, perished in the fire of
191. They ultimately fell the prey of Genseric and were landed
safely at Carthage in 455, where, eighty years later, Belisarius
recaptm-ed them and sent tliein to Constantinople.

Literature. — Corpus Inscr., vol. vi. n. 945 (943). — Flavius Josephus,
Jud., book vii. 17. — Antonio Nibby, Roma antica, vol. i. p. 490. — Rodolfo
Lanciani, Ancient Rome, p. 291.

Nearly opposite the arch, at the corner of the Porticus Margari-
taria on the Nova Via, is a shapeless mass of concrete, believed
to be the pedestal of the equestrian statue of Cloelia, described by
Livy, Seneca, Plutarch, and Servius. The surmise is not improba-
ble, especially as we know that the group was still existing in
Sacra Via Summa at the time of Servius, viz., at the beginning of
the fifth century. A centiiry later Cassiodorus mentions as yet
visible in the same place a group of bronze elephants.

Literature. — Becker, De muris atque portis, p. 38. — Nichols, The Roman
Fonim, p. 311.

X. Basilica Nova (Basilica of Constantine) (IX in plan). —
The space of ground covered by this vast building was probably
occupied at an early age by the Macellum or Forum Cupedinis, a

202

A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

market for the sale of fruit, honey, flowers, and wreaths, the last
inentiou of which occurs under Augustus. Doniitian built on
part of the ground the Horrea piperataria, warehouses for Oriental
spices, which were burnt down in the fire of 191, together with
many private houses, one of which, discovered in 1811 under the
right aisle, is described by Fea (Varieta di Notizie, p. 24). I have
myself seen traces of other buildings, on the occasion of repairs
made to the water-pipe which supplies the fountains of the Palatine
and which crosses the basilica diagonally. The basilica was begun
by Maxentius and finished by Constantine, partly with materials

Fig. 79. — Plan of Constautiue's Basilica.

found on the spot, partly with bricks made expressly in one of the
ufficince summce rei. Hundreds of these were found in the ex-
cavations of 1880. It seems that when Maxentius lost his life
in the battle of October 27, 312, the basilica was very nearly com-
pleted, as is shown by the discovery of a silver medallion — bear-
ing the legend maxentius v{ius) ¥(elix) aug(w*/m^-) — in 1828, in
a block of masonry fallen from the highest i^oint of the building.

The basilica had a nave and two aisles. The noble vaulted ceil-
ing of the nave, eighty-two metres long and twenty-five broad, was
supported by eight fluted columns of Proconnesian marble, of
which only two appear in the vignettes and designs of the Renais-

THE BASILICA OF CONSTANTINE

203

sance. Such is, for instance, a sketch by Bramante in the Uffizi col-
lection (No. 1711), which shows one between the first and second
arches, with its capital and entablature, and another without capi-
tal between the second and third. This last must have disappeared
at the time when Sangallo the elder was directing the works of
S. Peter's; certainly he made use of its base, which is described by

Fig. 80. — The Basilica of Constantine at the time of Paul V.

Dosio as " larga piedi 8 dita 7 . . . ed e la basa d' una delle colonne
. . . che fu portata (a S. Pietro) a tempo che era architetto el San-
gallo." The other pillar, so conspicuous in the vignettes of the
sixteenth century — among which I may mention the one painted
by Raphael's pupils in the last room, first floor, of the Farnesina —

204 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

was removed to the Piazza di S. Maria Maggiore by Paul V. in
1613, and set up in honor of the Virgin, as described in " Pagan
and Christian Rome," p. 136. We can account also for the fate of
a third base. It supplied the material for the statue of Alexander
Farnese, now in the Sala dei Capitani, Palazzo dei Conservatori.

The basilica, in its original construction, faced the east, and was
entered from the side of the Temple of Venus and Rome by a
clumsy portico out of proportion with the rest of the edifice.
Later on, a new entrance was opened on the south side facing
the Sacra Via, and a new tribune built in harmony with it. The
entrance was decorated with four large columns of porphyry,
pieces of which were found in 1487, 1819, and 1879, and restored
to the place to which they belong. Here also were discovered the
fragments of the colossal marble statue of Domitian, now in the
Cortile dei Conservatori.

The collapse of this ungraceful structure must date from a com-
paratively recent time, because Nibby asserts that he saw traces
of a Christian fresco painting of the thirteenth century in the
north apse. Perhaps the ceiling of the nave fell in the earthquake
of 1349, described by Petrarch (Epist. x. 2), carrying down with it
the greater portion of the south aisle. The roof of the north aisle,
still perfect, was granted by the city in 1547 to Eurialo Silvestri,
who laid out a garden on the top of it and filled it with antiques.
The basilica itself was used as a cattle-shed until 1714, when it
was granted to Marchese Emilio de' Cavalieri for a riding-school.
Ten years later I find it used as a hay-loft by the architect Bari-
gioni. The French invaders began excavating it in 1812, and
Pius VII. continued their work in 1818-19. In 1828 Nibby laid
bare the pavement, which remained in good condition till the sec-
ond French invasion of 1849. The basilica having been selected
as a drilling-place for French recruits, the last trace of the pave-
ment was destroyed about 18.54 by the treading of feet.

Literature. — Carlo Fea, La basilha di Costantliw sbandita dalla via
Sacra, Rome, 1819; Prodromo di nuove osservazioni, 1816, p. 24; Miscellatiea,
vol. ii. p. 47. — Antonio Nibby, Delia via Sacra, etc., p. 189; Del tempio della
Pace e della basilica di Coslantino, Rome, 1819; Roma antica, vol. ii. p. 238.
— Nicola Ratti, Su le r ovine del iempio delta Pace. Rome, 1823. — Bunsen,
Beschreibung, vol. iii. 11. 291. — Notizie degli Scavi, 1879-80. — Rodolfo Laii-
ciani, Bull, com., 1876, p. 48.

The basilica was freed from the granaries and factories and
ironworks which concealed its northern apse between March, 1878,
and February, 1880, when the tunnel known in the Middle Ages
as the Arco di Latrone was again made accessible (X in plan).

THE BASILICA OF CONSTANTINE

205

Before the construction of the basilica direct communication
existed between the Sacra Via and the region of the Carina?, the
cross street passing between the Forum of Peace and the ware-
houses for Oriental spices (Horrea piperataria). Maxentius brought
his building into contact with the Forum of Peace and obstructed
the passage. To obviate the consequences of the obstruction and
to save the citizens a long detour, a subway was opened under the
northeast corner of the basilica. The subway is about four metres
wide and fifteen long ; it is paved with tiles inscribed with the
stamp of the Imperial kilns, off . s . r . f , ocex ; the side walls

Fig. 81. — The Arco di Latrone under the Basilica of Constantine.

are worn with longitudinal grooves to the height of cart-wheels.
A\'hen the adjoining Temple of the Sacra Urbs was dedicated by
Pope Felix IV. (526-530) to SS. Cosmas and Damianus, one end
of the passage was walled up and the passage itself turned into a
sepulchral cave. Loculi resembling those of the catacombs are
still to be seen in the upper part of the walls, and two or three
ajipear in the illustration above. At a much later period hogs-
heads of wine took the places of the dead.

This passage was known in the ]\Iiddle Ages as the Arco di
Latrone. Pirro Ligorio (Bodl., f. 15) speaks of it as follows:
" The subway which we now call Latrone runs between the church

206 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

of S. Cosma and the Temple of Peace (the Basilica of Constan-
tine). After it liad served as a burial-place at the time of the
destruction of Rome, traffic was restored through it ; but it was
a lonely, dark place, and murders and robberies were freely com-
mitted in it. To atone for these crimes, and to bring about a
better state of things, the Arco di Latrone was included in the
itinerary of the famous procession of mid- August, when tlie image
of the Saviour is removed from the Lateran to S. JMaria Maggiore."
The procession of " mezzo agosto," to which Ligorio refers, was
one of the great events of mediaeval Rome ; the contest for prece-
dence among the popular corporations afterwards degenerated
into open fights and bloodshed. The magistrates of the city
issued regulation after regulation, the last of which, engraved on
marble in the anticpie style, is still to be seen in the vestibule of
the Palazzo dei Conservatori at the foot of the stairs. The regu-
lations did no good : the pageant was preceded or followed by so
many struggles that it left a bloody trail upon its path. It was
suppressed in 1566 by Pope Pius V.

Literature. — Vincenzo Forcella, Iscriz. delle chiese di Roma, vol. i.
n. 60, p. 37. — Giovanni Marangoni, htorin delV oratorio appellato Sancfn
Sanctorum, p. 112. Rome, 1747. — Rodolfo Lanciani, Archivio della Societa
di storia patria, vol. iii. p. 378; Jtinerario di Einsiedlen, p. 119.

XI. The Clivus Sacer, or gradient of the Sacra Via by the
Basilica of Constantine (XI in plan). — This tract, excavated
between March and June, 1878, is the noblest and widest of the
whole line. It measures 23 metres across from building to build-
ing, and 12.35 metres between the sidewalks. Under the roadway
runs a cloaca 2.10 metres high, and 0.90 wide, built of bricks and
vaulted over, with side embranchments to collect the waters from
the north slope of the Palatine and from Constantine's Basilica.

The left-side pavement, along the Porticus INlargaritaria and
the House of the Vestals, is 8.20 metres wide, and entirely encum-
bered by monuments in honor of different people, dating mostly
from the time of Septimius Severus and his successors. There
are pedestals of single or equestrian statues, shrines, fountains,
hemicycles, etc., which, found in a good state of preservation in
1879 and 1882, have been since greatly injured by frost and neglect.
The most important are : (a) the pedestal of a statue, probably of
a Greek masterpiece, set up by Fabius Titianus, j)refect of the
city in a. d. 339-341, together with many others (see Coi'pus
Inscriptionum, vi. 1653) ; (J) that of a statue raised to Constan-
tius, by Flavins Leontius, prefect of the city in 35.5-356 ; (c) that

PORTICUS MARGARITARIA

207

of a statue of Titus; (d) an altar dedicated to the Lares augusti;
(e) a shriue dedicated to Gordianus the younger by the people of
Tharsos, together with his equestrian statue. This graceful sedi-

LJ^U ^

OliT (T^ m>

cz::

Fig. 82. —Plan of Clivus Sacer.

cula was supported by two columns of portasanta; the letters
TAPCEnx on the epistyle were of gilt metal. It could be recon-
structed almost in a perfect state.

Literature. — Notizie degli Scnri, 1879, p. 14, tav. vii., and p. 113 ; 1882,
p. 216, tav. xiv.-xvi. — Bull, com., 1878, p. 257 ; 1880, ]>. 80.

On the side opposite the Basilica Nova stood the

XII. PoRTicT's Margaritaria, an arcade for jewelers and
goldsmiths (XII in plan). — The parallelogram between the Sacra
and the Xova Via, the Arch of Titus and the House of the Vestals,
remained a ten-a incognita to the topographer until the excavations
of 1878-7.9. Instead of the cedes Penatinm, of the house of the
Tarquins, of the Temple of Jupiter Stator, and other such edifices
crowded into it by the fancy of modern students, it was found to
contain a })ortico; sup2>orted by ten or eleven rows of stone pilas-
tei-s (twenty-two in each row), similar in every respect to the Por-
ticus Septorum under the Palazzo Doria, and to the Porticus
Vipsania under the (now demolished) Palazzo Piombino. The
stone pilasters stand four metres apart, and the covered galleries
must have been lighted by openings in the vault. The classic
name of this portico is easily found by refei-ring to the Almanac

208

A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

of 354, which mentions, among the edifices near to the Forum, a
Porticus Margaritaria, viz., a portico occupied by jewelers and
goldsmiths. Considering that the jewelers and goldsmiths of the
Porticus Margaritaria call themselves de Sacra Via, it is evident
that the arcades opened on that very street. Part ii. of volume vi.
of the " Corpus Inscriptionum " contains scores of epitaphs of
these tradesmen of the Sacra Via : there are unguejiiarii, perfumers ;
aurijices, goldsmiths ; an auri vestrix, weaver of gold cloth (?) ;
ccelatores, engravers also in repousse work ; coronarii or wreath-
makers ; Jlaturarii, metal-casters ; (jemmarii and margaritarii, deal-
ers in jewels and pearls ; pigmentai-ii, makers of cosmetics ; tibiarii.

Fig. 83. — Plan of Porticus Margaritaria.

flute-makers ; and negotiatores in general. Originally tliey must
have exhibited their precious merchandise in booths and screens
and desks under the shelter of the portico ; later on, the portico
was cut up into regular shops by means of brick walls raised be-
tween each jiair of stone pilasters, exactly as was done with the
Septa and with the Porticus Vipsania. The space was cut up also
vertically by means of wooden floors, so as to secure an office or
a bedroom above the shop.

The visitor who looks at the apparently barren site of the portico
may wonder how and where the subtle eyes of the topographer can
see all these details. The explanation is this. When the exca-
vators, in search of building-materials, attacked the ruins of the

TEE TEMPLE OF ROMULUS 209

portico at the time of Alexander VII., under the leadership of
Leonardo Agostini, they removed only the blocks of travertine of
which the pilasters were built, and left alone the partition walls
of brick. The portico, therefore, is gone, except a few blocks
which remain in situ here and there, especially on the side of the
Nova Via, but we can judge of its shape and size and aspect from
the brick walls, which still show the marks of the blocks stolen
away under Pope Chigi. Many brick stamps found in the excava-
tions of 1879 mention the kilns of Domitia Lucilla, wife of Lucius
Verus. The shops, therefore, must date from the second quarter
of the second century, probably from the year 134. The whole
building was not level, but followed the slope of the ground, like
the inclined wings of Bernini's portico at the end of the piazza of
S. Peter's.

Literature. — Notizie deijli Scai-i, 1882, p. 228. — Luchvig Preller, Die
Regionen (ler Stadt Rom, p. 154. — Forma Urbis Roma, pi. xxix. — • Sante
Bartoli Pietro, Mem. 50 (iu Fea's Miscellanea, vol. i. p. 234). — Corpus inscr.,
vol. vi. n. 1974, 9207, 9212, 9214, 9221, 9283,9418, 94.34, 9545, 9662, 9775.

Continuing our descent of the Clivus Sacer, after passing on the
right the street leading to the Carinse, described in § x., we find
on the same side the monumental group of SS. Cosma e Damiano,
which comprises a round vestibule, once the Heroon Komuli, and a
square hall, once the Templum Sacra^ Urbis.

XIII. The Heroox Romuli (Temple of Romuhis, son of I\Iax-
entius) (XIII in plan). — When this young prince died in o(l9, a
coin was struck with the legend divo komvlo, on the reverse of
which is represented a round monument erected to his memory.
The " Liber Pontificalis," John the deacon, and others mention the
site of SS. Cosma e Damiano as that of a templum Romuli (mean-
ing the founder of the city), and this tradition has lasted to our
own time. (See Nibby, Roma nell' anno 1888, part i. vol. ii. p. 710.)
Commendatore de Rossi, with the help of a fragmentary inscrip-
tion whicli still remained affixed to the building towards 1550, has
been able to prove, first, that the round vestibule of SS. Cosma e
Damiano and the Heroon Romuli are one and the same thing ;
secondly, that the Heroon was still unfinished when Maxentius
lost his life at the battle of Saxa Rubra on October 27, 312. The
Senate comjjleted the rotunda, and dedicated it, together with
the basilica, to Constantine. Pope Felix IV. (526-530) cut open a
communication between the rotunda and the Templum Sacrse
Urbis behind it, and dedicated both to SS. Cosmas and Daniianus,
physicians and martyrs.

210

A WALK THROUGH THE ^ACRA VIA

The style of the Ilevoon shows a decided decline in taste and
elegance. Instead of a round marble cella surrounded by a peri-
style of fluted Corinthian pillars, as we see in the Temple of
Matuta, of Herciiles iNIagnus Custos, etc., we are confronted with
a clumsy mixture of curved and straight lines, a round hall be-
tween two rectangular ones, a front with a hemicicyle between
the middle columns, and two doors between each side couple.

Fig. 84. — The Portico of the Heroon Romuli.

Two columns (of cipollino) are left standing ; a third was removed
at the time of Urban VIII. ; the site of the fourth is only marked
by its socle. The most conspicuous portion of the building is the
entrance door, with bronze folds and an elaborate entablature sup-
ported by two columns of porphyry. The door and its ornaments
were raised to the level of the modern city by Pope Barl>erini
about 1630. The Italian government restored it to its ancient
site in 1879. I may add that when Urban VIII. repaired the roof
of the cupola, the cupola itself was in imminent danger of collaps-

ARCHIVES OF THE CADASTRE

211

ing. We found ^vedg■ed in its cracks roots of ilexes over ten centi-
metres in diameter, the remains of an hortus siccus many hundred
years old.

LiTEKATUKK. — Gio. Battista cle Rossi, Bull, crist., 1867, p. 66. — Rodolfo
Lanciaui, Bull, com., 1882, p. 29, pi. 9. — Corpus Inscr., vol. vi. n. 1147. —
Mariano Armellini, Chiese di Ruiau, pp.152 and 155. — Notizie de<jli Scavi,
1879-1880.

Fig. 85. — Plan of
SS. Cosma e Damiano.

XIV. Templum Sacr.e Urbis (archives of the Cadastre) (XIV
in plan). The inner rectangular hall, back of
the Heroon Romuli, was built by Vespasian
in 78.

When this wise prince took the reins of
empire after the great disasters which had
befallen the capital under Nero and Vitellius,
the city was still " deformis veteribus in-
cendiis atque minis." Its state may be com-
pared with that of Paris after the Commune
as far as public buildings are concerned, but
we must go back to the Chicago fire of 1871
to find a parallel for the thousands of palaces,
tenement houses, temples, and shrines de-
stroyed, the ruins of which covered ten re-
gions out of fourteen. Between 73 and 75,
the high priests, magistrates, architects, sur-
veyors, and military engineers, under the

leadership of the censors, attended to the reorganization of the
city both materially and from an administrative point of view. The
last Roman census in the antique fashion was taken in 74, the city
area and limits were defined, the ground surveyed, the line of the
Servian walls and that of the octroi measured, together with the
length of the streets radiating from the golden milestone towards
the gates, the fourteen wards divided into many hundred " com-
pita larum " (parishes ?), the cadastre of public and private
property revised and brought up to date, the pomerium enlarged,
the streets straightened and repaved, the temples rebuilt, and a
new and re%'ised map of the city made. All the documents con-
nected with these geodetic and financial operations were deposited
in a fire-proof building erected for the purjiose on the southwest
side of the Forum of Peace, between it and the Sacra Via. The
hall had two entrances, one from the northwest, decorated with a
portico of six columns, on the epistyle of which the following in-
sci'iption was engraved : —

212

A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

imp • caes • vesPASiANus • avg • font • max • tribvn • put •
viii imp • xviii • p • p • censor • cos • viii

impp • caess • severvs • et • antoninvs • pii • avgg • felices

RESTITVERE

(This epistyle was broken, with the fall of the portico, into
four pieces. Two are missing; one was found about 1530 in the

Piazza della Consolazione ;
the last, in 1612, near the steps
of S. Francesca Komana.)
J The second entrance, still per-
fect, ojjened on the street de-
scribed in § X. This monu-
mental gate has been designed
and illustrated by Middleton
in the " Remains of Ancient
Rome," vol. i. p. 41. The last
two lines of the inscription,
which contain the names of
Severus and Caracalla, refer
to the restorations made by
these Emperors to the edifice,
considerably damaged by the
fire of Commodus. Their work
can be easily recognized from
the fact that while Vespa-
sian's hall was of opus quad-
ratum, of tufa strengthened
with blocks of travertine at
the corners, the restorations
of 211 are of bricks. When
Panvinio and Ligorio de-
scribed and sketched the
building towards the middle
of the sixteenth ceiitury it was
„„ practically intact, the only

changes made when it was
".'■'."■".'.'",.''.'.,!':'."-''"' J. f. p.... Chi-istianized by Felix IV.

being the introduction of the

. The Church of SS. Cosma e Domiano ^P^^ and the altar. They de-
scribed the hall as lighted by
fifteen large windows (three

,yfMM//W/M^/^'''^'''

Fig. 86. ■

in the Middle Ages.

ARCHIVES OF THE CADASTRE

21^

still visible, see Fig. 86). The walls were divided into three hori-
zontal bands by finely cut cornices. The upper band was occupied
by the windows, as in our old churches ; the lower was simply lined
with marble slabs covered by the bookcases and screens which
contained the papers and records and maps of the cadastre ; the
middle one was incrusted with tarsia-work of the rarest kinds of
marble, with panels representing panoplies, the Wolf with the infant
founders of Rome, and other such allegorical scenes. A particu-
lar that may surjirise the reader is that a large percentage of the tiles
of the present roof are ancient, their dates varying from the time
of Caracalla to that of Theodoric. After the restoration of Cara-

Fig. 87. — The Church of SS. Cosma e Damiano at the end of the sixteenth century.

calla the place took the name of Templum Sacrge Urbis. This
most perfect of the buildings in the classic district of the Sacra
Via was mercilessly mutilated by Pope Urban VIII. in 1632. He
raised tlie level of the church by 24 feet, destroyed the stone walls
which made it fire-proof, and sold or gave up the stones to the
Jesuits for their Church of S. Ignazio. The bronze gates of the
Heroon were wrenched from their sockets and rebuilt out of place
in symmetry with the axis of the church ; the historic inscription
of Constantine was destroyed, and the precious incrustations of

214 A M'ALK THROUGH THE SACEA VIA

the nave were obliterated. The Christian decorations of the edi-
fice had no better fate. There was a ciborium in the a^ise, made
about 1150 by Guy, cardinal of SS. Cosma e Damiano, a master-
piece of the school of Paolo Romano, signed by four of his son's
pupils : lonannes, petrvs, angelms, sasso, filii pavli hvivs
OPERis MAGiSTRi FVERVNT. It was leveled to the ground, to-
gether with the ambones of Sergius I. (695). The frescoes in the
lower portion of the walls were whitewashed. Pope Barberini laid
his hands also on the mosaics of the apse, mutilating those of the
arch as well as those of the calotta. Lastly, he called the monks
to helji in the work of destruction, and a brief dated 1630 (discov-
ered by Armellini in the Archivio dei Brevi) gave " licentiam effo-
diendi lapides " as they pleased.

The fame of the Templum Sacrae Urbis comes, however, from
another cause. When Agrippa and Augustus surveyed the city
in 6 B. c, the result of their labors, viz. the plan, or Forma Urbis,
was publicly exhibited in the Porticus Vipsania on the Via Fla-
minia (Aug. 1, 7 b. c). Vespasian, likewise, must have exhibited the
plan of the city reconstructed, after the fire, by Nero and by himself,
in this building of SS. Cosma e Damiano. The third edition of
the map, rej^resenting the city rebuilt and reorganized by Severus
and Caracalla after the fire of Conimodus, was certainly affixed to
the outside wall of the building, looking on the forum of Peace.
This celebrated " Forma Urbis," engraved on marble at an ap-
proximate scale of 1 : '250, the fragments of which are exhibited
in the Capitoline museum, has been described at length in Book
I. pp. 95-98.

Literature on the Heroon Roimili and the Tem]iliini Sacrw Urhis. — Gio.
Battista de Rossi, Bull. arch, crist., 1867, p. iW ; and 18'Jl, p. 7ti, n. 3 ; Mu-
saici delle chiese di Homa, part iv. — Rodoh'o Lauciani, Bull, cum., 1882, p. 2i>,
tav. iii.-x. — Mariano Armellini, Cliitse di Homa, 2d ed. p. 152. — Leone
Nardoni, Di alcune sotterr. confessloni nclle antlche basilichc. Rome, 1881. —
Notizle degli Scavi, 1879-80, passim ; and Bull, cum., 1881, p. 8.

On the names Urbs JJterna and Vrbs Sacra consult F. G.Moore in Transact.
Amer. Philul. Association, 1894, 34.

The back wall of the temple covered by the marble plan formed
at the same time part of the inclosure of the Forum of Peace
(XV in plan), the pavement of which is inlaid with slabs of
portasanta. The pavement has been uncovered both at the foot
of the wall, where it is still to be seen, and under the house Via
del Tempio della Pace, Xo. 11, where it lies buried under thirty-
eight feet of rubbish. I have already mentioned (§ ix.) some of

THE ARCH OF FAB I US 215

the famous ornaments of this forum ; we may add to the list a gal-
lory of statues of famous athletes from Greece, of which we heard
the first time in March, 1891, when a marble pedestal was dis-
covered at the corner of the Via del Sole and the Salara Vecchia,
bearing the inscription nreOKAHS ' HAEI02 ■ nENTA0AO2 " (iro)
ATKAEITOT * ('Ap76)toT. It refers to the celebrated statue of
Tythokles, a work of Polykletos, the original of which was erected
at Olympia, in memory of exploits of the former in the pent-
athlon. There the statue was seen by Pausanias (vi. 7, 10), and
there also its pedestal was rediscovered by the Germans in 1879
between the temples of Juno and Pelops. The original figure
must have been leaning on the right leg, as shown by the marks
on the plinth, whereas the Roman copy seems to have been leaning
the opposite way, unless tlie pedestal has been made use of twice,
before and after the first barbaric invasion. The loss of the Roman
replica is deeply to be regretted because we have no specimen of
the work of the second Polykletos. The pedestal is exhibited in
the Museo Municipale al Celio.

A little below the Temple of Romulus, the Sacra Via was
spanned by the

XV. Fornix Fabiaxus (the Arch of Q. Fabius Allobrogicus)
(XVI in plan). — On the left footway of the Sacra Via, nearly
opposite the street which divides the Temple of Faustina from
the Ileroon Romuli, are lying several blocks of travertine, with
mouldings, cornices, and capitals of very simple design. They
were discovered in 1882 in the middle of the street, not one stand-
ing in its original site. Ancient writers place at this exact point
the fornix or archway erected by Q. Fabius INIaxinms Allobrogicus,
consul 121 B. c, in memory of his successful campaign against
the Allobroges and Arvernes. The monument was celebrated
more from its location than for architectural value or size. Cras-
sus the orator used to say of IMemmius that he thought himself
so great that he could not enter the Forum without stooping his
head at the Arch of Fabius. Cicero places it at the foot of the
Clivus Sacer.

The remains of the arch were certainly dug up in 1543, but
the statements of contemporary writers are so contradictory that
it seems impossible to make out the truth. Some assert that the
stones inscribed with the name of the conqueror of Savoy were
found built in the vault of the Cloaca ]Maxima ! Others describe
not only the exact spot where the arch stood, but also its deco-

216 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

rations, trophies, victories, etc. Judging from the existing frag-
ments, it was a very simple structure, worthy of the austerity of
Republican times. The diameter of the archway measured 3.94
metres. It was built of travertine on the outside, with the core of
tufa and travertine. Near or upon it were statues of L. ^milius
Paullus and of P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus.

LiTEUATURK. — Cicero, De orat., ii. 66 ; and Pro Plancio, 7. — Corjnis J7isc):,
vol. i. p. 178; and vol. vi. n. 1303, 1304. —Gio. Battista de Rossi, JDeW arco
Fabiano nel Foro (in Annal. Inst., 1859, vol. xxxi. p. 307). — Notizie der/U
Scavi, 1882, p. 224, tav. xvi. —Nichols, The Roman Forum, p. 126. — The-
denat, in Daremberg and Saglio's Dlctiontiaire , p. 1.302, n. 28.

The last building on the right side of the Sacra Via, before
reaching the Forum, is the

XVI. iEi)Es Y>w\ Pii ET Div^. Faustina, or Temple of An-
toninus and Faustina — chui'ch of S. Lorenzo in jNliranda (XVII
in plan). — "When Antoninus Pius lost his wife, Faustina the
elder, in A. D. 141, the Senate voted a temple to commemorate her
apotheosis, with priestesses attached to it, with gold and silver
statues, etc. On the architrave of the temple this simple inscrip-
tion was engraved : —

dIvae • favstInae • ex • s • c.

The same divine honors were given to Antoninus after his
death in 161 ; and his name was added to that of Faustina on the
frieze, with little consideration for the laws of epigraph ic symme-
try. (See Corpus Inscriptionum, vol. vi. n. 1005.) The edifice
was named from the last occupant, ^des divi Pii. It is prostyle,
with six columns on the front and three on the sides. The col-
umns are of Carystian or cipollino marble, which had come into
great fashion since the time of Hadrian. The frieze, with its
griffins, vases, candelabra, and festoons, is considered a marvel of
art.

In the wide space covered by the pronaos there were statues
of friends or relatives of the Antonines, like those of Vitrasius
Pollio (Corpus Inscriptionum, 1540), husband of Annia Faustina,
governor of Asia and of lower Moesia, consul a. d. 138 and 176 ;
and of Bassseus Rufus Qhid., 1599), one of the victorious leaders
in the Marcomannic campaign. The temple is represented in
contemporary medals, as well as in a bas-relief of the Villa Me-
dici. (See Bull. Inst., 1853, p. 141.) Its remains, most beautifully
preserved, were dedicated to S. Lawrence in the seventh or eighth

THE TEMPLE OF FAUSTINA

217

century, probably by a devout lady named ^Miranda (compare the
names of S. Lorenzo in Forraoso, in Daniaso, in Lucina, etc.).
This saved them from destruction until the time of Urban V.,
1362-1370, who allowed the temple to be reduced to the present
state, to provide stones and marbles for the reconsti-uction of the
Lateran. Martin V. granted the church in 1430 to the corporation

Fig. 88. — The Frieze of the Temple of Faustina.

of apothecaries, who built shrines and chapels in the intercolum-
niations of the portico, protected by a roof the slanting traces of
■which are still \4sible. Roof and cbapels were demolished by
Paul III. on the occasion of the entry of Charles Y. Fra Gio-
condo da Verona mentions more than once excavations made
round the temple at the end of the fifteenth century, by which he
and Peruzzi were enabled to take measurements of the substruc-
tures and basement ; but no further spoliation seems to have been
committed until the temple was again given up by the same Paul
III. to the deputies for the Fabbrica di S. Pietro.

The results of the loot of 1.510 are described as follows by
Ligorio (Bodl., p. 28) : " I shall now describe some marbles found
at the foot of the temple, when they were searching for, and re-
moving to S. Peter's, the beautiful steps, an act of vandalism

218

A WALK THE 0 UGH THE SAC HA VIA

which I cannot condemn too strongly. There was a bas-relief
representing Nereids riding on dolphins ; a portion of the figure
which stood on the top of the pediment ; a square pedestal with
low relief, in a style like the Egyptian ; and many fragments of
statues, capitals, and friezes, half burned in a lime-kiln. There
was also the base of a statue dedicated to Antoninus by the corpora-

Fig 89. — Graffiti oii the Caiystiau Columns of the Temple of Faustina.

tion of bakers, which became the property of the Mattel." There
were twenty-one steps, as ascertained in the course of the excava-
tions made in 1811 by the French prefect of the Departement du
Tibre. The same excavations brought to light the threshold of
the door leading to the crypt below the stairs. M. Lacour Gayet
discovered in 1885, and published in the " Melanges de I'Ecole
fran(;aise de Rome " of that year, p. 226, a set of graffiti scratched

THE REGIA 219

on the lower portion of the columns of the pronaos, after their
surface had been softened by the fire of Conimodus. They rep-
resent Hercules and the lion of Xemea, a Lar, the Alctory, etc.
The inscriptions date from the Christian era, as if some one was
hastening the " purification " of the building. There are saluta-
tions like EVTiciANE VIVAS and the monogram

CO y^ A

which must have been sketched by some one of Eastern extrac-
tion, as the Latins always made the Alpha precede the Omega.

The ground in front of the temple was cleared in January, 1870.
Among the objects recovered on this occasion were a fragment of
the fasti consulares from the year of Rome 75.5 to 760 ; a pedestal
of a statue which, having been overthro'SATi by an earthquake (fa-
tali necessitate collapsa), was replaced on its pedestal by Gabinius
Vettius Probianus, a prefect of Eome, at the beginning of the
fifth century, well known for the care he took for the j)reservation
of works of art, injured in one way or another during those event-
ful years ; and the pedestal of an equestrian statue raised \)\ the
policemen to Geta. The ground in front of the temple is called
in the inscription of Probianus celeberrimvs a-rbis locvs.

Literature. — Vita Pii, 6. — Eckliel, Doctriiia numism. vet., vii. .39. — Pirro
Ligorio, Cod. vat., 3374, f. 168; and Cod. Torin., xv. f. 100.— Fra Giocoiido
da Verona, Uffizi, n. 202. — Tournon, Etudes statist, sur Rome, vol. ii. p. 264.
— Valadier et Visconti, Raccolta delle piii itisirjni fabbriche di Roma, tav. ii.,
iii. — Antonio Nibby, Faro romano, p. 181. — Angelo Pellegrini, Svavi di
Roma (in Buonarroti, February, 1876). — Armellini, Chiese di Roma, p. 1.57.

We must now cross to the opposite side of the Sacra Via, and
examine, before entering the Forum, the group of Vesta, which
comprises the Regia, the temple, the shrine, and the house of the

Vestals.

XVIT. The Regia (X\T;II in plan). — The now vacant sj^ace
of ground between the Temples of Vesta and Faustina was occu-
pied by the Regia, the official residence of the Pontifex ]\Iaximus,
and the centre of his administration, the foundation of which was
attributed to Xuma. It contained a chapel where the lances of
Mars were kept ; another sacred to Ops C'onsiva, which could be
entered only liy the Vestals and by the •' sacerdos publicus ; " spa-
cious archives for the safe keeping of the annals, commentaries,
and books of the Supi'eme Priesthood ; and a meeting hall where

220

A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

religious conventions were held (like that of the Fratres Arvales
of May 14, 14 b. c, for the cooptatio of Drusus Caesar, son of
Tiberius). The Regia was burnt to the ground not less than four
times : first in 210 b. c. ; then in 148, when only the chapel of
Mars and the laurel-trees shading the entrance were saved from
the flames ; and again in 36, when it was rebuilt by Doniitius
Calvinus in solid marble, and ornamented with statues obtained
from Julius Ciiesar, much against his will. Pliny (Xatural His-
tory, xxxvi. 18, 8) says that two of the four statues which once
had supported the tent of Alexander the Great were placed before
the Regia, the other two being before the Temple of Mars Ultor.
In 1883 I expressed the opinion (Notizie Scavi, p. 479) that

Fig. 00. —The Regia, as .sketched by Pirro Ligorio.

the graceful little edifice (once more attacked by the flames in the
conflagration of Nero) never rose from its ashes ; but after read-
ing the account of its discovery and outrageous treatment by the
deputies of the Fabbrica di S. Pietro in 1543-46, I wish to correct
this statement. The illusti-ation, which I have photographed
from an original sketch by Ligorio, who was present at the di?-

THE TEMPLE OF VESTA 221

covery, speaks better than any other argument. The design is
more a restoration of that fanciful architect than a picture of
the real state of the building when first discovered (August 15,
1543 V) ; but many of the particulars are genuine, as any one can
see by comparing them with the existing fragment, reproduced by
Huelsen and Nichols, with Michelangelo's reconstruction in the
Sala dei Fasti, Palazzo dei Conservatori, and with Panvinio's de-
signs. Ligorio labored under the delusion that the edifice discov-
ered was a " Janus," and so he gave it four entrances, wliile in
reality there were but two. At any rate all those present at the
find, Palladio, Metello, Panvinio, Ligorio, agree that there was
a considerable portion of the Regia standing above ground, and
that very many lines of the Fasti triumphales et consulares were
found in situ, engraved on its marble walls and pilasters ; the first
between 18 and 12 before Christ, the consulares in 36. Ligorio
says that it took thirty days to demolish the exquisite ruins down
to the level of the foundations, some of the blocks being split for
the lime-kiln, others handed over to the stone-cutters of S. Peter's.
Cardinal Alessandro Farnese came finally to the rescue : the frag-
ments of the Fasti were piously collected by him, and removed
to the Capitol, and the ground was tunneled in various directions
in search of stray pieces. Michelangelo for the architectural part,
and Gentile Delfino for the epigraphic, were deputed to arrange
them in one of the halls of the Palazzo dei Conservatori. Other
fragments have been discovered since 1870.

Literature. — Coi-jms Inscr., vol. i. p. 41.5; second edition, pp. 10-12, pi.
la. — Fea, Frammenti d. Fasd. — Adolf Becker, Topographie, p. 234. — De
Murls, p. 23. — F. M. Nichols, The Roman Forum, pp. 118-12.5. — Heinrich
Jordan, Furma Urbis, pi. 3, n. 21. — Notizie der/li Scavi, 1882, p. 226. — The dis-
coveries of 1886 were illustrated b}' Nichols, The Regia and the Fasti Capito-
lini (in Archaiologia, vol. 1., 1887, p. 227); by the same in Mittheil., 1886,
pp. 94-98; by Jordan, Gli edijizi J'ra il tempio di Faustina, e V atrio di Vesta
(in Mittheil., 1886, p. 99, pis. 5-7); and bv Huelsen, Die Regia (in Jahrbuch
Arch. Inst., 1889, p. 228).

XVIII. The Temple of Vesta (XIX in plan). — "In prehis-
toric times, when fire could be obtained only from the friction
caused by rubbing together two sticks of wood or from sparks of
flint, every village kept a public fire burning day and night in a
central hut for the use of each family. The duty of watching the
precious element was intrusted to young girls, because girls, as
a rule, did not follow their parents or brothers to the pasture
grounds, nor did they share with them the fatigues of hunting or

222 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

fishing expeditions. In course of time this simple practice be-
came a kind of sacred institution, especially at Alba Longa, the
mother country of Rome ; and when a party of Alban shepherds
settled on the banks of the Tiber, the worship of Vesta — repre-
sented by the j)ublic fire and the girls attending to it — was duly
organized at the foot of the Palatine, on the borders of the market-
place " (Ancient Rome, p. 135).

It seems that the original hut built by Numa perished in the
invasion of the Gauls in 390 b. c. The Vestals, on being warned
of their approach, concealed the Palladium and other relics in
two earthen jars, buried them near the house of the flamen Quiri-
nalis — the place was henceforth called f/o//o/a — and took refuge
at Caere. A second fire in 241 destroyed the temple. While the
Vestals tried to save their lives, Caecilius Metellus, the high priest,
threw himself into the flames, and saved the Palladium at the
cost of one eye and one arm, which was charred to the bone. The
valor of thirteen slaves saved the temple from being gutted for
the third time in 210, and for this action they were at once lib-
erated. The architecture of the temple of those days can be seen
in the coins of the gens Cassia, dating from the commencement of
the seventh century.' The round structure is covered by a conical
roof surmounted by a statue, and fringed around with dragons'
heads. Horace describes an inundation of the time of Augustus,
by which the temple was seriously damaged. Kero restored it
after his own fire. Lastly, the terrible conflagration which swept
over the valley of the Forum in 191 a. d., under the Empire of
Commodus, destroyed with the temple the house of the Vestals,
the Temple of Peace, etc. The Vestals fled to the Palatine,
carrying with them the Palladium, which was thus seen for the
first time by profane eyes. The reconstruction by Julia Domna,
the Empress of Septimius Severus, and the mother of Caracalla,
is the last recorded in history. The " vignettes " of her medals
(ap. Cohen, Med. imp., 2d ed. n. 239) give an exact idea of its
architecture and style ; it is also represented on several bas-reliefs,
reproduced by the aiithors and in the works quoted at the foot
of this section. After the defeat of Eugenius in 394, Theodosius
II. shut the gates of the temple and extinguished forever the
mysterious fire which had been kept burning for over a thousand
years.

A shapeless mass of concrete of the foundations is all that is
left of the famous shrine. The responsibility for such a great loss
1 Babelon, Monnaies de la republ. romaine, vol. i. p. 331, n. 8, 9.

224 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

falls not on the would-be barbarians, but, as usual, on the genial
masters of the Renaissance. When first discovered, at the time
of Fra Giocondo da Verona in 1489, it was practically intact, and
had suffered only slight damage. The Fabbrica di S. Pietro de-
stroyed it in 1.549, removing or burning into lime not only the
marble blocks of the cella, the entablature, and the peristyle, but
even the tufa blocks which strengthened and surrounded the
concrete of the foundations, like a ring. Thirty-five pieces only
escaped by a miracle, and we found them scattered over a large
area in the excavations of 1877. AMth their help, and by com-
parison with the designs of medals and bas-reliefs, architects and
archaeologists have attempted the reconstruction of the temple.
The one I suggest is represented on pp. 159 and IGO of " Ancient
Rome." Compare it with Jordan's " Der Tempel," pi. 4 ; and
Auer's " Der Tempel," plates 6-8. This last is reproduced in the
preceding cut.

Literature. — Wolfgang: Helbig, Bull. Inst., 1878, p. 9. — Rodolfo Lan-
ciani, V atrio di Vesta (in Notizie Scavi, December, 1883); and Ancient Rome,
chaps, vi. and vii. — Heinrich Jordan, Ber Tempel der Vesta. Berlin, Weid-
mann, 1886. — Hans Auer, Ber Tempel der Vesta. Vienna, Tempsky, 1888. —
Christian Huelsen, MittlieU., vol. iv., 1889, p. 245. — J. Henrj' Middleton,
The Remains of Ancient Rome, vol. i. p. 298. — H. Thedenat, in Daremberg
and Saglio's Bictionnaire, p. 1285, n. 7.

XIX. The Shrine (XX in plan). — The ancient practice of
placing shrines of domestic gods at the corners of the main streets
of each ward of the city, was raised to the dignity of a public
institution by Augustus.^ Four hundred and twenty-four of these
popular chapels were numbered in Rome under Constantine. The
Christians accepted the institution, and developed it to such an
extent that not less than three thousand two hundred and forty-six
were registered in Rome in 1853. Although many inscriptions
belonging to the " sediculae larum " have been found from time to
time, only two may be said to exist now : the shrine of the Vicus
Sobrius near S. Martino ai Monti, and that of the Vicus Vestse.
The latter stands behind the temple on the right of the entrance
door to the cloisters. The entablature was supported by two
columns of the composite order. The frieze contains the follow-
ing inscription, in letters of the golden age : sexatvs popvlvsqve
KOMANv(.s) • PECVNiA • PVBLicA • FACiENDAM • cvRAViT. Under-
neath there was, very likely, a statue of Mercury, a socle inscribed

1 See Pagan and Christian Rome, p. 62 ; and Suetonius, Octav.,1^, "com-
pitales Lares ornare bis in anno instituit vernis floribus et icstivis."

V ts

:- O

226 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

DEO • MERCVRio having been found not far away. An inscription
discovered in June, 1878, at S. Paolo fuori le Mura tells us the
name and the history of this monument. It says that in a. d. 223,
Severus Alexander being Emperor, the street magistrates of the
eighth region (Forum) had rebuilt ^^edicvlam • reg • viii • vico
VEST^. Vesta's Temple is separated from that of Castor and
Pollux by a lane, which is evidently the Vicus Vestae mentioned
above.

This beautiful shrine could be reconstructed in its entirety, but
the attempt has not yet been made.

XX. Atrium Vest^ (House of the Vestals) (XXI in plan,
and Fig. 92). — The House of the Vestals is an oblong brick build-
ing, of the time of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna, sur-
rounded by streets on every side : by the Sacra Via on the north,
by the Vicus Vestae on the west, by the Nova Via on the south,
and by an unknown lane on the east. The most prominent feature
of the building is the Atrium ; in fact, its size and magnificence
were so great that the whole building was named from it, Atrium
Vestse. The building itself is 115 metres long, 53 wide ; the
Atrium 67 metres long, 24 wide. The surface of the house amounts
to 6095 square metres, of which not less than one foui'th (1608
square metres) is occupied by the Atrium. Its architecture can be
compared with that of our mediaeval and Renaissance double-
storied cloisters, which, being the abode of people seldom or
never allowed to go out, must necessarily be very airy and spacious
to give the inmates the chance of taking bodily exercise. The
portico on the ground floor has, or rather had, forty-eight columns
of cipollino mai'ble, of the Corinthian order. Of this stately col-
onnade not a piece is left standing. The site and the number of
the shafts are marked only by the foundation stones (cuscini) of
travertine. Not a trace has been found of the capitals and of the
entablature, which was 146 metres long ; and I do not know any
other instance of such a wholesale destruction of an ancient build-
ing. The second or upper story had an equal number of columns,
smaller in size and of the precious breccia corallina. Two whole
columns and many fragments have been recovered. They have
escaped destruction because the breccia corallina cannot be burnt
into lime.

The Atrium is surrounded by state apartments on the ground
floor. On the upper it was surrounded by the private apartments
of the Vestals. Of course, we cannot give their right name to the

THE HOUSE OF THE VESTALS 227

single pieces, or state one by one their former use and place. At
the east end of the cloisters there is a large hall, twelve metres
long and eight metres wide, which corresponds to the tablinum of a
Roman house. Its pavement is laid out in colored marbles, such
as giallo, porfido, serpentine, etc., and the pattern belongs to the
style brought into fashion under Septimius Sever us. The walls
were incrusted also with rare marbles framed by a cornice of rosso
antico. On each side of this hall there are three smaller rooms,
making a total of six, a figure corresponding to the number of the
Vestals. Their destination is doubtful ; certainly they were not
used as bedrooms, in the first place because the bedrooms have
been traced in the upper story, and secondly, because the damp-
ness of these low cells is such that they were absolutely unfit for
human habitation.

The position of the house, as regards health and health-giving
sunshine, is most unfavorable. Being built against the cliff of
the Palatine, at the bottom of an artificial cutting, its ground
floor lies thirty feet below the level of the Nova Via ; this street is
actually supported by the back walls of the state apartments on
the west side of the Atrium. No wonder that these walls should
be saturated with damp, which must have told severely on the
health of the sisters. They did their best to fight the evil.
Double walls were set up against the buttress of the Nova Via,
with a free space between them to allow of the circidation of air.
Ventilators and hot-air furnaces are to be seen in every corner.
Another precaution taken by the Vestals against rheumatism was
the raising of the pavements of every room subject to damp, and
the establishment of hot vapor currents in the free space between
the double floors. This was done rather awkwardly. Instead of
the terra-cotta cylinders or brick pillars which were commonly
used by the Konians to support the upper floor of these hypocausta,
the Vestals of latter days made use of large amphorje sawn across
and cut into two portions of equal length. These half jars are
placed in parallel rows and very near each other, and made to
support the large tegulce bipedales over which the pavement is laid.
Hot air was forced to circulate in the interstices between the jars
by means of terra-cotta pipes from a furnace. In spite of all
these precautions, the hoiise must have remained unhealthy, es-
pecially from want of sunshine. Even how it is cast into the
shade of the surrounding ruins of the imperial palace at an early
hour of the day ; imagine what must have happened when that
palace was towering in all its glory fully 150 feet above the level

228 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

of the Atrium. These unfavorable liygieuic conditions allow us
to exi^lain, with a certain degree of probability, a remarkable
change in the rules of the order made towards the beginning of
the fourth century. Physicians were not allowed in former times
to enter the Atrium. As soon as the fii'st symptoms of a case of
sickness made their appearance the patient was at once removed
from the nunnery and put under the care of her parents, or else
under the charge of a distingiushed matron. In the fourth cen-
tury we hear for the first time of an archiater or physician attached
to the establishment.

When the excavations began in October, 1883, we were in hope
of discovering some kind of fasti which would tell us the names of
the Vestal virgins, the dates of their cooptation and death, and,
above all, the list of the abbesses of the monastery. The expecta-
tion was disappointed ; and when we consider that amongst the
forty thousand inscriptions discovered in Rome since the early
Renaissance there is not a line, not a fragment, which can be
attributed to the above-named fasti, we may confidently assert
that they never existed. It is difficult to explain this fact. The
parallel religious corporations of the Fratres Ai'vales, of the Salii
Palatini, of the Augiu's, took care that the fasti of their order,
year after year, should be engraved in marble ; and these marbles,
more or less injiu-ed by time, have come down to us, and they are
considered as the most precious documents of Latin epigraphy and
chronology. Perhaps it was not customary that female corpora-
tions should have special annals; perhajis these annals were only
permitted to true collegia, and the Vestals, like the Curiones, were
not considered as such. At any i-ate, the want of the fasti is
compensated for, as regards the Atrium, by the magnificent set of
pedestals, with statues and eulogistic inscriptions, raised in honor
of the Vestales maximse. The fashion of these dedications seems
to have come in with the Empire, and was kept until the fall of
the pagan superstition. The Atrium Vestse must have contained
more than one hundred "honorary" pedestals, not because there
were as many abbesses during the last four centuries of Vesta's
worship, but because many statues represented and many pedestals
bore the name of the same lady. The stone-cutters and the lime-
burners of the Middle Ages have destroyed more than four fifths
of this series. We possess actually the originals or the copies of
thirty-six inscriptions bearing names of Vestales maxinue of these,
twenty-eight were found in the Atrium itself, two on the Palatine,
six in various other quarters of the town. Comparing the infox'-

THE HOUSE OF THE VESTALS 220

mation given by these marbles with tlie accounts of classical
writers, we can put together an important section of the fasti
7naximatus (the word maxhiiatus has appeared for the first time in
one of the new inscriptions).

1. Occia. She presided over the sisterhood from the year 38
B. c. to A, D. 19. (Tacitus, Ann., ii. 86.)

2. Junia Torquata, daughter of Silanus, the noblest of the noble
Roman ladies ; maxima between a. d. 19 and 48.

3. Vibidia, the generous protector of INIessalina when the long
story of her infamies was disclosed to Claudius. (Tacitus, Ann.,
xi. 32.)

4. Cornelia Maxima, murdered by Domitiau. (Pliny, Ep., iv. 11.)

5. Prsetextata. Her name appeared for the first time on a ped-
estal discovered December 29, 1883 : " Prjetextata; Crassi Filise
Virgini Vestali Maxima*, C. lulius Creticus a Sacris." Her mo-
ther, " Sulpicia Crassi uxor," is mentioned by Tacitus (Hist., iv. 42).

6. Numisia Maximilla, a. d. 200. Two pedestals mention her
name — one found tliree centuries ago, one discovered on Decem-
ber 29, 1883, "Xumisia? jNIaximillse V.V. Maximaj, C. Helvidius
Mysticus devotus beneficiis eius."

7. Terentia Flavola, A. d. 215, whose name is engraved on four
pedestals, was the great-granddaughter of Lollianus Avitus, con-
sul in A. D. 114 ; the granddaughter of L. Iledius Rufus Lollianus
Avitus, consul in a. d. 144 ; the daughter of Q. Hedius Rufus Lolli-
anus Gentianus, Salius Palatinus and consul of uncertain date.
She had, moreover, two brothers, Lollianus Plautius Avitus, hus-
band of Claudia Sestia Cocceia Severiana, and Terentius Gentianus,
husband of Pomponia Pietina.

8. Campia Severina, a. d. 240.

9. Flavia Mamilia, A. d, 242.

10. Flavia Publicia, a. d. 247. This lady was undoubtedly the
most famous and venerable chief of the order. Her eulogies and
her pedestals have been discovei-ed in vast numbers. Judging
from the appearance of the exquisite statue discovered, together
with one of her pedestals, on December 20, Flavia Publicia was
a lady of tall, queenly appearance, of noble demeanor, of a sweet
and gentle, if not handsome face. Seven pedestals have been
found, — one in 1497, one in 1.549, five in our own excavations.
Of these recent ones the first was dedicated on July 11, 247 A. d.,
by her niece ^^milia Rogatilla, and by Minucius Honoratus, son
of iEmilia ; the second by two captains of the army, Ulpius Yerus
and Aurelius Titus; the third was dedicated on September 30,

230 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

A. D. 257, by a certain Bareius Zoticus, with his wife Flavia
Verecunda ; the fourth by a M. Aurelius Hermes ; the last by
T. Flavins Ajsronius, a sub-iiitendant of the monastery.

11. Coelia Claudiuna, a. d. 286. This abbess was already
known from five inscriptions discovered at various times. The
two others lately found tell nothing remarkable, except that she
is said to have ruled over twenty years.

12. Terentia Rufilla., a. d. 300.

13. On November 5th, a pedestal was discovered bearing the
following inscription : " Ob meritum castitatis, pudicitise, atque
in sacris religionib usque doctrines mirabilis . . . [name erased]
virgini Vestali maxima^, Pontifices viri clarissimi, pro magistro
Macrinio Sossiano viro clarissimo, pro meritis." Then follows
the date of June 9, a. d. 364 : " dedicata quinto idus lunias, divo
loviano et Varroniano consulibus." Now, why should the name
of this highly praised priestess have been erased? Two reasons
only can be given : either she happened to forget the vows of
chastity, or she was converted to Christianity. The first expla-
nation does not seem satisfactory, not only because she was most
probably a mature, if not an old woman, when the crime and
the memorlce. damnaiio took place, but also because the fall of a
Vestal would certainly have been noticed and registered and pro-
claimed to the four winds by contemporary Christian writers.
Conversion to the Gospel seems more probable ; one of these con-
quests of the new faith in Vesta's Atrium seems to be mentioned
by Prudentius (Peristeph., hymn 2).

14. Coelia Concordia, the last Vesialis maxima, or the last bixt
one. She was a great friend of the great champion of polytheism,
Vettius Agorius Pmetextatus. Some of her exploits have been
revealed by the discovery of a pedestal in the house of Prtetextatus
himself, which house stood where is now the Convento dei Liguo-
rini, formerly the Villa Caserta, at the corner of the Via Merulana
and the Via dell' Arco di S. Vito. Ccelia Concordia had raised a
statue in honor of Prsetextatus in the Atrium itself ; she received
the same distinction in the house of that nobleman. The statue
of Prsetextatus was discovered in the Atrium the last day of 1883.

In tlie four months during whicli the excavations lasted, 36,000
cubic metres of earth were carted away and the following objects
discovered : jNIarble pedestals with inscriptions, 13 ; inscriptions
on marble slabs, 12; brick-stamps, 102; silver coins, 835; gold
coin, 1 ; pieces of jewelry, 2 ; busts and heads, 15 ; statues, 11 ;
important pieces of statues, 7; columns or pieces of columns of
breccia corallina, cipollino, and bigio, 11.

THE HOUSE OF THE VESTALS 231

The most remarkable find was that of a ripostiglio, or hidden
treasure of Anglo-Saxon coins, made on November 8, 1883, under
the remains of a mediaeval house built within the northeast corner
of the Atrium. About a metre and a half above the ancient pave-
ment our men found a rough terra-cotta jug containing 832 silver
coins, one of gold, and a piece of jewelry inscribed " Domno
Marino Papa."

The gold coin, a solidus, shows on one side the head and the
name of the Byzantine Emperor Theophilus (827-84"2), on the
other side the busts of JMichael and Constantine VIII. The piece
proves only that the treasure was not buried before the first half
of the lunth centmy, and proves nothing else, as Byzantine solidi
have been used both in the East and in the West for centuries ; in
fact, a few of them were still current not many years ago in some
Turkish provinces. In the Middle Ages they were the standard
international currency; the Merovingian kings even struck a
certain number of these coins with the effigies and names of
.Justinus, of Justinian, and so forth. Of the 832 silver denarii,
828 are Anglo-Saxon, one from Ratisbon, one from Limoges, two
from Pavia. The Anglo-Saxon group is subdivided as follows :
Coins with the legend aelfred rex, 3; with eadvveakd rex,
217; with aethelstax uex, 393; with eadmvnd rex, 195;
with oxLAF (Anlaf, Anlef) rex or cvxvxc, G; with sitrice
CVNVNC, 1 ; with the name of archbishop plegmvnd, 4 ; uncer-
tain. 10 ; total, 829. Of ^Ethelstan's coins, 2 were struck at Bath,

1 at Canterbury, 1 at Chichester, 1 at Dartmouth, 4 at Derby, 20
at Dorchester, 6 at Exeter, 16 at York, 2 at Hertford, 1 at Lewes,

2 at Longport, 25 at Leicester, 66 at London, 1 at ^Maldon, 14
at Norwich, 9 at Oxford, 7 at Shrewsbury, 1 at Shaftesbury, 3 at
Stafford, 14 at Winchester, 13 at Wallingford, 3 at tolie (?).
The names of the monttarii are nearly as numerous as the coins
tliemselves. The piece of jewelry is a kind of fibula or broocli,
witli silver designs and letters iidaid on copper. It is a unique
piece, not only as a work of art of a Roman goldsmith of the
tenth century, but because fibula' inscribed with the name of
the living pope are not to be found. It was certainly used to
fasten on the shoulder the mantle of some high official belonging
to the court of ]Marinus II., a pontiff otherwise obscure, who
occupied the chair of S. Peter from 942 to 946 ; Albericus being
tlien the Princeps romanorum and Edmund the King of England.
This official must have been in charge of the pope's episcopium,
which nestled among the ruins of the palace of Caligula (see

232 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

p. 155), and must have been paid with " Peter's pence " from
England. His small house, destroyed in 1884, rested on the three
pedestals of Ccelia Claudiana, of the condemned Vestal, No. 13,
and of Flavia Publicia, which one finds on the right-hand side of
the entrance (letter A in plan).

The foundations of an octagonal shrine, purposely and deliber-
ately leveled to the ground, appear in the centre of the cloisters.
This shrine contained probably the " sacra fatalia," the sacred
tokens of the Roman commonwealth, like the Palladium, intrusted
to the care of the Vestals. We believe that the destruction of
this innermost sanctuary was accomplished by the Vestals them-
selves in the last days preceding the suppression of the order and
their banishment from the cloisters, A. d. 394:.

In a room near the southeast corner, marked B in the plan, is
the ]nill used by the Vestals to grind meal with which the " mola
salsa," a most primitive kind of cake, was prepared on February
15 of each year, during the celebration of the Lupercalia.

The House of the Vestals has lost much of its fascinating
interest since the best works of art, busts, statues, portraits, and
inscriptions, pertaining to it, have been removed to the baths of
Diocletian.

Literature. — Rodolfo Lanciani, JJ atria cli Vesta, con appendice delcomm.
de Rossi. Rome, Salviucci, 1884. — Costantino Maes, Vesta e Vestali. Rome,

1883. — Henirich Jordan, Dei' Tempel der Vesta und das Haus der Vestalinnen.
Berlin, 1884. — Hans Auer, Der Tempel derVesta und das Haus der Vestalinnen,
Vienna, 1888. — J. Henry Middleton, The Remains of Ancient Rome, vol. i. p.
229. — Joachim INIarquardt, Stuatsverwalfrmg, vol. iii. p. 32-3. — Bull. Inst.,

1884, p. 145.— J/i»Ae?7., 1889, p. 245; 1891, p. 91 ; 1892, t^. 287. — Atti Accad.
archeoL, 1890, p. 407.

THE ROMAN FORUM.

XXI. Forum Romanum Magnum (XXII in plan, and Fig. 93).
— We have now come to the most interesting part of our walk,
to the chief attraction of this attractive district, to the Forum
Romanum Magnum, where for so many centuries the destinies of
the ancient world were swayed.

At the time of the foundation of Rome the bartering trade
between the various tribes settled on the heights of the left bank
of the Tiber was concentrated in the hollow ground between the
Palatine, the Capitoline, and the Quirinal. Around this elemen-
tary marketplace, bordering on the marshes of the lesser Velabrum,
were a few conical straw huts, such as the one in which the public
fire was kept, afterwards the Temple of Vesta. There were also
clay pits on the north side, from which the neighborhood took

THE ROMAN FORUM 233

the name of Argiletuin, and stone quarries under the Capitoline
called Lautumia% afterwards transformed into a state prison. The
market-place was well supplied with drinking-water from local
springs, like the Tullianum (which tradition has transformed into
a miraculous feature of S. Peter's prison)/ and the spring of
Juturna, described on p. 124.

According to the Roman legend, Romulus and Tatius, after the
mediation of the Sabine women, met on the very spot where
the battle had been fought, and made peace and an alliance. The
spot, a low, damp, grassy field, exposed to the floods of the river
Spinon (p. 29), took the name of " Comitium " from the verb
coiVe, to assemble. It is possible that, in consequence of the
alliance, a road connecting the Sabine and the Roman settlements
was made across these swamps ; it became afterwards the Sacra
Via. TuUus Hostilius, the third king, built a stone inclosure on
the Comitium, for the meeting of the Senators, named from him
Curia Ilostilia; then came the state prison built by Ancus Mar-
cius in one of the quarries (the Tullianum). The Tarquins
drained the land, transformed the unruly river Spinon into the
Cloaca Maxima, gave the Forum a regular (trapezoidal) shape,
divided the space around its borders into building-lots, and sold
them to private speculators for shops and houses, the fronts of
which were to be lined with porticoes.

These shops, so closely connected with the early life of Rome,
were at the beginning of the commonest kind: butchers' stalls
(afterwards replaced by the Basilica Sempronia) and butchers'
shops, from which Virginius took the knife to stab his daughter.
Other tabernai were occupied by schools for children, where Ap-
pius Claudius first saw Virginia reading. As the dignity of the
place increased, ordinary tradesmen disappeared and their shops
were occupied by goldsmiths, silversmiths, money-changers, and
usurers. Hence the name " taberna; argentariae," applied, as a gen-
eral rule, to all the shops ; as a distinctive name, to those on the
north side. On the occasion of the triumph of L. Papirius, dic-
tator in 308 B. c, the gilt shields of the Samnites were distributed
among the owners of the argentariae to decorate their shop fronts.
There were two rows of them, on either of the longer sides of the
Forum : one called the tahernce vetei'es (septem tabernce) on the
shady or south side ; one called the tahernce novce or argentarice

1 See Der mamertinische Kerker u. die romischen Traditionen vom Gefdng-
nisse und den Ketten Petri, von H. Grisar, S. J., in Zeitschrift fur hath.
Theologie, xx. Jahrgang, 1896, p. 102.

of Rome.

B. C.

257

4U7

258

400

270

484

364

390

387

367

391

303

234 .1 WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

on the sunny or north side. The same were designated concisely
with the formula " sub veteribus, sub novis."

It does not come within the scope of the present chapter to
follow stage by stage the develojDment of the market-place into a
magnificent forum surrounded by stately edifices. The chronology
of its monumental transformation u^j to the time of Augustus may
be found in the following table. Compare the " Geschichte des
Forum Comitium und der Sacra Via " in Jordan's " Topographie,"
i"^, p. 315.

e. B. c.

September 17. — 'Eemple of Saturn dedicated by the

consuls A. Senipronius and M. Minicius.
Apparition of the Dioscuri by the spring of Juturna.
January 27. — Dedication of the Temple of the Dioscuri.
Temple of Vesta burnt by the Gauls and rebuilt.
Erection of the Temple of Concoi-d voted by the Senate.
The legendarj- chasm at the northwest corner of the

Palatine.
416 338 Rostra decorated with beaks from the fleet of the

Antiates.
Chapel of Cn. Flavins on the Graecostasis.
Tabula Valeria painted on the east side of the Curia.
First sun-dial erected by M. Valerius Messala.
Columna rostrata of C. Duilius.
Temple of Vesta burnt and rebuilt.
Regia destroyed hy tire and rebuilt.
The first Basilica or court-house, built by M. Porcius

Cato the elder (Basilica Porcia).
Basilica Fulvia, by M. Fulvius Nobilior.
Basilica Sempronia, by T. Scmpronius Gracchus.
Second sun-dial, by L. Marcius Philippus.
First clepsydra, by P. Scipio Nasica.
Regia destroyed by fire and rebuilt.
Reconstruction of tlie Temple of Concord by L. Opimius,

voted by the Senate.
Basilica Opimia, by L. Opimius.
Fornix Fabianus, by Q. Fabius Allobrogicus.
Temple of Castor rel)uilt by L. Ca'cilius Metellus

Dalmaticus.
670 78 Basilica Fulvia (/Emilia) restored by M. jEmilius Lepi-

dus.
680 74 Tribunal Aurelium, by L. Aurelius Cotta.

It is evident that a forum dating from the time of the Kings
must soon have become inadequate for its purpose, and for the
requirements of an ever-increasing poisulation ; its area, besides,
was so crowded with statues, tribunes, altars, putealia, and ob-

450

304

490

264

491

203

494

260

513

241

544

210

570

184

575

179

585

169

590

104

595

157

606

148

633

121

633

121

633

121

637

117

THE nOMAN FORUM 235

stacles of every description tliat we wonder how public meetings
could be held within its precincts. In 159 b. c. P. Scipio and
M. Popilius, censors, ordered the removal from the Forum of all
statues of magistrates unless they had been erected by decree of
the S. P. Q. K. ; and yet we hear, at the Rostra alone, of the
statues of the four Roman ambassadors murdered by the Fidenates
in 438 B. c. ; of the two Junii Coruncanii, murdered by Tenta,
queen of the Illyrians, in 229 ; of Cu. Octavius, assassinated at
Laodicaea in 162 while on a mission to the Syi'ian court; of
Servius Sulpicius the jurist, who died in the camp at Mutina in
43 ; of Camillus the dictator, who, as an example of the ancient
simplicity of dress, was clothed in a toga without tunic; of C.
Maenius (equestrian), who conquered the Latins in 338 ; of Sulla;
of Pompeius ; of Lepidus ; of Julius C»sar ; of young Octavianus ;
and lastly, of the three Sibyls, which Pliny classifies among the
earliest works of the kind in Rome.^

Besides these obstacles, the Forum and its vicinity were crowded
by certain classes of people, not very distinguished, who so con-
stantly haunted certain points and corners of the place that they
were nicknamed from them. Thus we hear of the Subrostrani,
lawyers without employment, keeping themselves by the Rostra in
search of prey ; of the Canalicolce, described by Paul the Deacon as
" homines pauperes qui circa canales fori consistebaut ; " and in a
general way of the forenses, so graphically described by Plautus
(Curculio, iv. 1).

One of the first steps to refoi'ui this state of things was taken
in the seventh century of Rome by the construction of a fish-mar-
ket {forum piscatorium), in consequence of which the fishmongers,
who poisoned the clients of the court-houses with the offensive
smell of their merchandise, were driven away from the porticoes
of the basilica?. These basilicpe, — the Porcia, oldest of all, built
by the elder Cato in 184 near the Curia; the Sempronia, erected in
109 on the line of the tabernre veteres ; the Opimia, in 121, by the
Temple of Concord; and the Fulvia ^-Emilia, 179-178, by the Via
Argiletana, — as theyM'^ere surrounded by porticoes accessible both
by day and by night, increased the public accommodation to some
extent.

The grand era of transformation begins with the year 700 (54
B. c), when L. iEmilius Paullus bought ]irivate property on the
north side and built his superb Basilica ^Emilia. The reason for

1 See Nichols, The Roman Forum, pp. 79, 8(5-89, 20-3, 2]7; and Tliedeiiat,
in Daremberg and Sagliu's Diclionnairc, ]>. 1281.

236 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

such a costly undertaking (about 12,000,000 francs) is given by
Cicero : ut forum laxaremus, to enlarge the Forum. The work of
iEmilius Paullus was continued by Julius Caesar, who purchased
other private property and built an extension — the Forum Ju-
lium — at a cost of 20,000,000 francs. This happened between
the years 700 and 708 (54 and 46 b. c). Augustus followed the
example of Csesar, and, in continuation of the two fora, built a
third one named Forum Augustum or Forum Martis, from the
Temple of Mars the Avenger, which stood at one end of it. Au-
gustus himself explains in his " Res gestae " the necessity of this
work, by the inadequacy of the two existing fora for the transac-
tion of business and the administration of justice. It took him
forty years to finish the structure, from 712 to August 1, 752 (42
to 2 B. c). During this lapse of time the old Forum Romanum
had been, in its turn, vastly improved, as is shown by the follow-
ing summary : —

Year of Rome. b. c.

702 52 The Curia, the Basilica Porcia, and several houses

burnt down by the Clodians. The Temple of
Felicitas built on the site of the Curia in 705.
Substituted once more by the Curia Julia in 710.
Dedicated by Augustus in 725.

708 46 First Basilica Julia dedicated by Julius Ciesar ; Sub

Veteribus rebuilt and enlarged by Augustus in
742.

708 46 Lacus Servilius embellished by Agrippa.

710 44 The Rostra Julia built at the other (ea-st) end of the

Forum.

712 42 Temple of Saturn rebuilt by L. Munatius Plancus.

718 36 The Regia rebuilt by Domitius Calvinus. Fasti

consulares engraved the same yeai', fasti trium-
phales between 736 and 742.

725 29 August 18. — Temple of Ca-sar dedicated by Au-

gustus, and triumphal arch of Augustus dedi-
cated near the temple bj' the S. P. Q. R.

745 9 Altar of Vulcan dedicated by Augustus on the

Volkanal.

747 7 Temple of Castor and Pollux restored by Tiberius.

We can add to the list the restoration of the Temple of Con-
cordia by Tiberius in 763 (10 A. d.) ; that of the state prison by C.
Vibius and M. Cocceius about the same date ; the erection of an
altar to Ops by the Temple of Saturn, August 10, 760 (a. d. 7) ;
and that of a triumphal arch of Tiberius in 769 (a. d. 16).

From the age of Tiberius to that of Constantine the history of

THE ROMAN FORUM 237

the Forum is represented by four great fires followed by three
great restorations, in the course of which the space for the ac-
commodation of the crowds is vastly increased, new buildings are
added, new art collections formed, etc. The first is the fire of
Nero, A. D. 65, which lasted six days and seven nights, destroyed
three regions of the city, and damaged seven more. The Regia,
the temples of Vesta and of Jupiter Stator, the Curia, the Graeco-
stasis, the Temple of Janus, and the region of the Argiletum as
far as the Carinse, were devastated by the flames. The second is
the tire of Titus, a. d. 80.

Vespasian and Domitian repaired the damages of both, and in
doing this they added two fora to the three already existing, the
Forum Pacis and the Forum Transitorium.

Vespasian began by clearing and rejsairing the streets " deformes
veteribus incendiis atque minis," ^ and the temples, for which he
was rewarded with the title of " Restitutor iEdium Sacrarum." ^
Then he took up a large section of the burnt land between the
Sacra Via and the Carina, and erected on it a splendid temple to
Peace, surrounded by a large open space, which must have served,
like the fora of Julius and Augustus, to relieve the Forum Ro-
manum. He also rebuilt the temples of Jupiter Capitolinus and
of Claudius on the Coelian hill, and began the construction of the
amphitheatre.

In a short reign of two years Titus (a. d. 79-81) could do little
more than complete the buildings which his father had left unfin-
ished, like the amphitheatre, which he dedicated in the year 80.
At the same time another frightful conflagration, which raged
for three days and three nights, stopped all work. The fire of
Titus was particularly destructive in the region of the Circus
Flaminius, lying under the Capitoline hill, as well as on the hill
itself.

Domitian, youngest son of Vespasian, rebuilt a large area on the
north and west sides of the Forum, under a new piano regolatore,
the orientation of which is parallel with the Via Argiletana (and the
fora of Augustus, of Csesar, and of Peace), not with the Sacra Via.
The copious list of his buildings comprises the transformation of
the Via Argiletana into the Forum Transitorium ; the reconstruc-
tion of the Temple of Janus, of the Curia Julia, of the Grseco-
stasis, of the Regia and the House of the Vestals,^ of the Meta

1 Suetonius, Vesjias., 8 ; and Corpus Inscr., vol. vi. n. 931.

2 Ihkl., n. 9.34.

8 Thedenat, in Daremberg and Saglio's Dictionnaire, p. 1290, n. 12-14.

238 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

Sudans ; the construction of the horrea piperataria, of the Temple
of Vespasian and Titus on the Clivus Capitolinus, of the Ai'ch
of Titus on tlie Summa Sacra Via ; and the completion of the
amphitheatre. In memory of these architectural exploits, an
equestrian statue was raised to him in the middle of the Forum,
the description of which by Statins (Silv., i. i) is a fundamental
text for the topography of this classic district.

Shortly before the end of the reign of Commodus, a. d. 191,
another fire, which lasted several days, swept over the region of
the Sacra Via. It began in a house near the Temple of Peace,
after a slight shock of earthquake. The temple was leveled to
the ground ; hence the fire spread to the spice-warehouses of Do-
mitian, and from them, over the Sacra Via and the Atrium and
Temple of Vesta, to tlie Palace of the Cjesars, a great part of which
was desti'oyed, together with the archives of the Empire. " It was
on this occasion that Galen's shop on the Sacra Via was burnt
down, when, as he tells us himself, he lost some of his works of
which there were no other copies in I\ome. The fire was extin-
guished at last by a heavy fall of rain." ^

The damages were repaired by Septimius Severus, by his Em-
press, Julia Domna, and by his son, Caracalla, with the adoption
of a new piano regolatore, in consequence of which the orientation
of edifices on the Clivus Sacer was shifted by 33°. This change
appears most evident in the map of the Clivus Sacer (p. 207, Fig.
82), in which the ruins anterior to the fire of 191 are marked in
black, those from 191 downwards in a lighter tint. It is necessary
to remind the reader that the excavations of the Forum and of the
Palatine have nowhere been carried to the proper depth. We have
satisfied ourselves with laying bare the remains of the late Empire,
without taking care to explore the earlier and deeper strata. The
foundations of the triumphal arch of Augustus were discovered in
1888 hardly ten inches below the level at which the excavations of
1872 had stopped. The water-tank of Mykenean shape discovered
on the Palatine while this book was in the press (August, 1896) had
actually been seen in 1876, but not excavated because it lay lower
than the surrounding ruins. We are still discussing the exact
location of the Arch of Fabius, when it could be ascertained de
facto by scraping away a few inches of ground.

Severus and Caracalla repaired or rebuilt a fundamentis the
Temple of Vesta, the House of the Vestals, the Templum Sacrse

1 Thomas Dyer, A History of the Cily of Rome, ed. 1865, p. 203.

THE ROM AX FORUM 239

Urbis, that of Vespasian, the Porticus ^largaritaria, and the front
of the palace on the Xova Via. Their names are commemorated
forever in the F'oruui, in the triumphal arch erected in 203 on the
border-line of the Comitium.

We have no definite account of the fire of 283 under Carinus.
Judging from the works of repair which it necessitated, it must
have raged from the foot of the Capitoline to the top of the
Sacra Via, from the Vicus Jugarius to the Temple of Venus and
Rome.

Diocletian repaii'ed the Basilica Julia, the Grjecostasis (?), and
the Forum Julium, and rebuilt the Senate-house from its founda-
tions. Maxentius repaired the Temple of Venus and Rome, and
built the heroon of his son Romidus, and the great basilica after-
wards named from Constantiue. Tlie monumental columns which
stand on the edge of tlie Forum, opposite the Basilica Julia, date
also from the beginning of the fourth century.

The first incident in the history of the destruction of the Forum
is the abolition of pagan worship. In 383 Gratianus did away with
the privileges of temjiles and j^riests, and confiscated their revenues.
In 391 Valentinian and Theodosius prohibited sacrifices, even if
strictly domestic and private. This brought the pagan faction to
open rebellion, as related at lengtli in " Ancient Rome," p. 173.
After the defeat of the rebel leader Eugenius, which took place on
September 6, 391, temples were closed forever ; but this measure
contributed, for the time being, to the embellishment more than
to the spoliation of the Forum and its surroundings, because the
beautiful statues of the gods, removed from tlieir altars, were set
up again, as mere works of Greek art, in public places like law-
courts, fora, baths, main thoroughfares, etc. Information on this
point is supplied by —

G. B. de Rossi, Bullettino di arch, rrisf., ISO.'i, p. 5 : and Bull, della comm.
arch, com., 1874, p. 174. — Corpus Iiucr. Lat., vol. vi. p. -356, n. 1651-72. —
Notizie deyli Scavi, 1895, p. 459.

The Forum was tolerably well jDreserved at the beginning of the
sixth century. In 500 King Theodoric addi'essed the people from
the Rostra, promising to maintain the pri\nleges granted by his
predecessors, and the words of his promise were engraved on a
bronze tablet, hung probably in front of the Senate-house. The
Anonym us of Valesius,i in mentioning these events, gives to this
corner of the old Forum the name ad Palmam, about which have
written —

240 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

H. Jordan, Tojwgraphie, vol. i"-^, p. 259, n. 01. — Ferdinand Gregorovius,
Geschichte, vol. i. p. 276. — G. B. de Rossi, Bull, com., 1887, p. 64 ; 1889, p.
363.

The former name of the corner was in trlbus fails, or tria fata,
from the statues of the three Sibyls mentioned by Pliny (xxxiv. 11)
iuxta Rostra, and considered to rank among the earliest works of
the kind in Rome. The new denomination ad Palmam originated
from a statue of Claudius Gothicus, wearing the palm of victory
(statua Palmata), which stood near the Arch of Sever us. It soon
extended to the whole neighborhood. The promulgation of the
Codex Theodosianus is said to have taken place in 438, in the house
of Anicius Glabrio Faustus, qum est ad Palmam, viz., near the
Senate-house. The same house is called domus palmata in a
letter of King Theodoric.^ The meeting of a committee of
bishops with a committee of senators, which took place here in
502 to discuss the schism of Lawrence, is called palmaris, for the
same reason.

The first solemn transformation of an historical building near
the Forum into a Christian place of worship took place about 526,
when Pope Felix IV. dedicated to SS. Cosmas and Damianus the
Templum Sacrse Urbis, or Record Office. In 630 the Senate-house
was dedicated to S. Hadrian by Honorius I. ; in 731 Gregory III.
rebuilt the oratory of SS. Sergius and Bacchus by the Temple of
Concord and the chapel of the Mamertine Prison ; in 760 Paul I.
rebuilt the church of S. Maria Antiqua in the inner hall of the
Augusteum, and raised a new one to S. Peter in the vestibule of
the Temple of Venus and Rome (transformed in 850 by Leo TV.
into that of S. Maria Nova). The Temple of Antoninus likewise
was placed under the patronage of S. Lawrence, that of Janus
under that of S. Dionysius, the offices of the Senate under that of
S. Martina, the Basilica Julia under that of S. Maria de Foro, the
^rarium Saturni under that of the Saviour. The Heroon of
Romulus, son of Maxentius, became the vestibule of SS. Cosmas
and Damianus ; the so-called Baths of Heliogabalus on the Sacra
Via became the church and convent of S. Csesarius in Palatio;
the Basilica of Constantine was christianized under a name un-
known to us. (See Pagan and Christian Rome, p. 162.)

The buildings mentioned by Procopius, about 537, are, besides
the Forum itself, the Senate-house, the Temple of Janus, etc.
He also states that many statues by Pheidias and Lysippos could

1 Quoted by Nibby, Roma antica, vol. ii. p. 58.

2 Cassiodorus, Var., iv. 30.

TEE ROMAN FORUM 241

still be seen in Rome, after it had been so often sacked. In 546
the barbarians of Totila looted the city once more ; still the
Forum, free of ruins, continued to be used as the meeting-place of
the remaining population. In 608 the last " honorary " monu-
ment, the column of Phocas, was erected in the middle of it, with
marbles taken from some neighboring edifice. A few years later
Pope Honorius I. (625-640) stripped the roof of the Temple of
Venus and Rome of its bronze tiles, which could not but hasten
the destruction of that glorious building. In 663 a Christian em-
peror, Constans II., held the starving and ruined city to ransom
for twelve days, inflicting upon it more damage than it had suf-
fered at the hands of the Goths and Vandals. In 768 Stephen III.
was elected pope in a popular meeting, held in tribus fails by the
Comitium.

If the so-called " Itinerary of Einsiedlen " dates really from the
time of Charlemagne, it gives us a very detailed account of the
state of the Forum at the beginning of the ninth century. The
monuments registered in this document are : the arches of Severus,
of Titus, and of Constantine ; the umbilicus RomjB, a " pendant "
to the golden milestone ; the equestrian statue of Constantine ; the
Curia (S. Adriano) ; the Augusteum (S. M. Antiqua) ; the Tem-
jilum Sacrte Urbis (SS. Cosmas and Damianus) ; the Temple of
Venus and Rome (Palatium Traiani) ; and the Meta Sudans.
This is the last evidence we possess of the Forum retaining its
original level.

An examination of the state of its pavement shows that in
former times carriages could not cross it, on account of police
regulations and of the steps (and occasional palisades) by which
the travertine floor was surrounded. However, all obstacles were
removed after the fall of the Empire. Vehicles were then allowed
to cross the Forum diagonally from the Argiletum (by S. Adriano)
to the Vicus Tuscus (by S. Teodoro) and vice versa, coming in and
out between the fii'st and second pedestals of the " honorary "
columns on the Sacra Via, where the pavement is deeply furrowed
by the friction of wheels. A curbstone, made of a broken column
of African marble, is set up at the corner of the first pedestal at
the turn of the Sacra Via.

What happened to the Forum from the ninth to the fourteenth
century it is exceedingly difficult to say. It is unnecessary to
remind the student how negligently excavations were made up
to a recent date. Their purpose wa^ to reach and lay bare the
classic remains of the Empire, and if mediaeval or decadence monu-

242 A WALK THROUGH THE SACEA VIA

ments barred the way, they were mercilessly sacrificed. We have
careful descriptions of the objects discovered in these excavations,
— inscriptions, pedestals, statues, bas-reliefs, columns, etc., — but
not a word is said about the way they were lying in their bed
of ruins, at what depth, whether in situ or overthrown, whether
belonging to the place of discovery or brought from some distance
to be used as building-materials, etc. The archaeologists and the
excavators of the Napoleonic period, Fea, Nibby, and Amati,
were far more careful in noting these particulars, the only means
we have of I'econstructing the history of the decline and fall of
the city.

Take the Basilica Julia, as an illustration : what is left of
the noble building to tell the tale of its downfall? The steps
leading to it are modern for the greater jaart, and so are the
pavement, the pilasters of the nave and aisles, the brick arches
towards the Vicus Jugarius, the marble pillars of the Doric order
on the Sacra Via, tlie opening of tlie Cloaca Maxima, etc. Even
the fragments ari'anged on the pilasters are not all found on
the spot. But we do not complain of restorations so much as of
destructions. I have just said that part of the Basilica was dedi-
cated to S. Maria de Foro ; the elegant little church was found
almost intact in 1880 in the northern aisle on the Vicus Jugarius,
with its double row of columns, apse, presbyterium, marble tran-
sennse, fresco paintings, main and side doors, etc. The only trace
left standing by accident is one of the columns of the presby-
terium. The remaining portion of the Basilica had been taken
possession of by the Koman marmorarii of the eleventh century,
who prepared there the materia jn-ima for their cosmatesque clois-
ters, ambones, pavements, etc. They had provided themselves
with booths and workshops by closing with mud walls the spaces
between the pilasters of the western aisles. There were about
twenty such shops. The great nave was covered with a layer of
chips and fragments of historical marbles, destined to feed the
lime-kilns, two of which were discovered full of half-charred blocks.
The east aisles towards the Sacra Via were foimd unencumbered
by mediaeval partition w^alls, and we know the reason why. They
were used as rope-walks, from which the place derived its name
of Cannaparia. The upper strata of rubbish was composed inostly
of human bones ; because, after the last devastations of Cardi-
nal di Corneto, the site had been turned into a burial-ground for
the Ospedale della Consolazione. The chain of historical events
which made the building pass from the hand of the Roman magis-

THE ROMAN FORUM 2-io

tra+es into that of the priests of S. Maria de Foro, and then of
ropemakers, of luarniorarii, of lime-burners, of the guardians
of the Ospedale delta Consolazione, was thus illustrated by actual
remains. They have all been sacrificed to the desire of bringing
into evidence one period only in the history of the building, the
classic. Another subject of discussion about this place was the
roof. Was the Basilica vaulted over, like that of Constantine, or
roofed with tiles supported by a wooden framework ? The answer
was given materially, by the huge blocks of the vault with panels
and lacunaria in stucco, which lay scattered on the floor of the
aisles. They were destroyed for fear that they would obstruct the
view.

The Forum has had the same experience. The southeast side
of it, facing the Temple of Caesar, was found in 1872 closed by a
line of shops of the beginning of the fifth century, and of the
utmost importance for the history of the place. They were mis-
taken for a mediajval fortification (see Bull. Inst., 1872, pp. 234, 235)
and destroyed. The same mistake was made with regard to the
walls winch supported tlae platform of the Rostra. The pedestal
of an equestrian statue in the middle of tlie Forum — wrongly
attributed to Domitian — was likewise dismantled for the sake of
some blocks of giallo antico used in its masonry. If such errors
were committed in so recent an age, it is easy to understand what
must have happened in centuries gone by, and what opportunities
of reconstructing the Forum have been lost.

The accumulation of soil began, as far as W'e can judge, after the
visit of Charlemagne (800). When an officer of Pope ]\Iarinus II.
built in 916 a small house within the cloisters of the Vestals, there
were already five feet of rubbish above the old pavement. After
tlie fire of Robert Guiscard in 1081, the Forum and its surround-
ings disapi^eared altogether from the sight, and almost from the
memory, of tlie living. The Frangipani and other turbulent barons
occupied the ruins of temples and arclies, ci'owning and surround-
ing them with battlemented towers, many of which were in their
turn leveled to the ground in 1221, 1257, and 1536. See, also, upon
this point —

Ferdinand rircgorovius, Geschichte, iv. :J70: v. .31fi. — Heiurich .Jordan,
Topographie, ii. 480; and Ephemeris epigr., 1876, p. 2-38.

The Forum was then turned into a vegetable garden. In the
inventory of the possessions of the Lateran basilica, -viTitten by
Nicolo Frangipani about 1300, we find mentioned : " Two small
houses near the image of Phocas (face magina), with their orchards ;

244 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

two orchards near the arch by the image of Phocas ; others near
the church of SS. Cosma e Damiano ; one near S. Adriano, where
stand the four columns," etc. The " Res gestae " of Innocent III.
mention, vol. ii. p. 102, an orchard behind the church of SS. Sergio
e Bacco, and another " among the columns " in the direction of
the Mamertine prison. The ground was still cultivated in the
middle of the sixteenth -century, when we hear of the inscription
of Nsevius Surdinus found " in the gardens of the columna Maenia,"
viz., of Phocas ; and of the pedestal (Corpus, 1458, o) found " in
the gardens by the three columns," viz., of Castor and Pollux. The
area of the House of the Vestals was occupied by a harundinetum,
or bamboo shrubbery.

It has been said that the earth and rubbish fi-om the foundations
of public and private buildings were regularly thrown into the
area of the Porum, from the time of Eugenius IV. (1431-47), but
no documents have been produced to prove this. I have found
one — the first within my knowledge — in the account-books of
Pope Paul II. (1464-71). It appears from them that the earth
and rubbish excavated from the foundations of the Palazzo di
Venezia were regularly thrown out " ad tres coluninas," viz., in the
neighborhood of the Temple of Castor and Pollux. Considering
the state of the city in the fifteenth century, the want of police
regulations, and the freedom of building, destroying, and exca-
vating which every one enjoyed, it is no wonder that rubbish was
thrown out in the nearest convenient place, and no place was more
convenient than the hollow of the Forum. I have collected many
data about the periodical increase of its level ; but two instances
will give the reader an idea of them. It appears that, after the
obstruction of the Cloaca Maxima,^ the only outlet for rain and
spring water in the district of the fora was a channel or furrow
cut by the rushing stream through the bed of rubbish, on the line
of the Via di S. Teodoro, passing right in front of this church.
Communication between the banks of this ditch was assured by
means of a bridge, called il ponticello. Albertini speaks of a dis-
covery made about 1.510 ad ponticulum, between S. M. Liberatrice
and S. Teodoro. Martin Heemskerk made a sketch of the bridge
in 15.34.2 -pi^g if^gj; mention of it occurs in 1549 (Corpus, vi. 804)
apropos of the discovery of the Vortumnus prope ponticulum ante

1 The Forum of Augustus could not have been turned into a marsh — il
Pantano — unless the Cloaca Maxima, which runs under it and drains it, had
ceased its functions.

2 See Mittheilungen, 1894, p. 10, n. 1.

THE ROMAN FORUM 245

mdificium quadralum, " near the ponticello in front of the Temple
of Augustus." Bridge and ditch had disajjpeared under the ever
increasing deposits of rubbish in 1593, when Cardinal Alessandro
Farnese made a present of the ground to the S. P. Q. R. for the
erection of a fountain and of a watering-trough for cattle. We
have the evidence of these facts to the present day in the church
of S. Teodoro, built in the sixth (?) century at the level of the
Vicus Tuscus ; and rebuilt in 1450 by Pope Nicholas Y. ten or
twelve feet higher. In the vignette of Martin Heemskerk, just
mentioned, the threshold of the church appears still above the
street (1534). In 1674 it was considerably below it. Finally,
to save the building from filtering waters and from the pressure of
earth, Pope Clement XI. was compelled to cut a ditch round and
to open a court before it, to which we now descend by a flight of
steps.

Such has been the fate of all ancient churches in this region.
Built originally ten or twelve steps higher than the Forum, by the
end of the fifteenth ceiitury they had sunk deep in the ground,
and many were deserted by their attendants. The third vignette
of Etienne Duperac shows people descending to the Chiu-ch of S.
Adriano, the ground being almost level with the architrave of the
door. A strong remedy alone could save the buildings from de-
struction, and that of raising them to the level of the new city was
decided upon. The thing was done, but in a reckless way, so that
the present chiu'ches have nothing but their name in common
with their predecessors. Those who know what the word " restora-
tion " means with reference to the seicento will understand what
those venerable buildings must have gone through at the hands of
their restorers.

The second instance I propose to quote is this. The greatest
centre of traffic in ancient times was the Argiletum, a thoroughfare
which ran along tiie bottom of the valley between the Quirinal,
Viminal, and Esquiline, and entered the Foi'um between the Curia
and the Basilica ^Emilia.^ It retained its importance throughout
the centuries until Cardinal Michele Bonelli cut through the Curia
the street which bears his name (Via Bonella), and led the traffic
into a new thoroughfare, better leveled, paved, and drained. A
search made in 1809 at the point where the Ai-giletum fell into the
Comitium showed the existence of four pavements, one above the
other, viz., the stone floor of the Comitium ; another, 9 feet higher,

1 The lower section of the Argiletum was transformed bj' Domitian into the
Forum Trausitorium.

246 A WALK THROUGH THE SACHA VIA

dating probably from tlie time of llobert Gui.scard (1084) ; a third,
7 feet higher still, with medireval walls on each side and a curb-
stone at the corner made out of a broken column ; the fourth and
last pavement, at the present level, dates from the time of Paul
III., who, on preparing the ground for the triumphal entry of
Charles V. (1536), did not remove the materials of the several
churches, houses, and towers demolished for the occasion, but
leveled them on the spot. In the excavations made by Mbby
between 1827 and 1834 many coins of Paul III. were discovered
at a considerable deptli on the line of the Sacra Via.

I have mentioned above the fountain and water-trough estab-
lished by the 8. P. Q. R. about 1593, near the three columns of
Castor and Pollux, on a piece of ground granted by Cardinal Ales-
sandro Farnese. The fountain consisted of a large granite basin,
23 metres in circumference, placed on a high pedestal of travertine.
The basin had been discovered oj^posite the Mamertine prison,
together with the Marforio, in the fifteenth century. AVhen the
architect Antinori suggested to Pius VII., in 1816, the removal of
the basin to the Piazza del Quirinale (where it was actually placed
at the foot of the obelisk two years later), the basin was sunk in
the earth, so that carters used to drive their teams right across it,
to refresh them in the heat of the summer. I have myself seen a
portion of tlie area of the Forum increase by two metres at least
in 1868, when Baron Visconti, then engaged in discovering the
site of the Porta Romanula, deposited the earth on the site of the
House of the Vestals, instead of carting it away.

As regards the search for antiquities, we can safely say that,
from the time of Urban V. (1362-70) to the end of the last cen-
tury, every year is marked by a plunder of some kind or other, the
worst deeds of destruction being connected witli the golden age
of the cinquecento. The history of these excavations has not been
written yet. Materials for such a history, however, have been
collected by —

Heinricli Jordan, SyUoge inscripf. fori romani (in Ephem. epigr., "1876, pp.
238-248). — Charles Biinsen, Le forum romanum, 1835, pp. 4-6. — A. Zahn,
BuUeUino Instituto, 1867, p. 189. — Eugene Miintz, Les arts a la cour des
Pnpes, vols, i.-iii.; and Revue archcoL, 1876, p. 158. — Orazio Marucchi, Bes-
r.rizione del foro romano. Rome, Befani, 1883.

But they hardly cover one tenth of the ground. Students will find
a complete chronology of the facts in the " Storia degli Scavi di
Roma," which I hope soon to publish as a companion text to the
" Forma Urbis."

THE ROMAN FORUM 247

The oldest official record dates from the year 1364, when Urban
V. granted the materials of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina
to the rebuilders of the Lateran, provided they would not touch
the chapel of S. Lorenzo in Mu-anda, which had been set up in the
portico. As an account of excavations is appended to the descrip-
tion of each building, I need not enter into many particulars. In
general, however, let us distinguish three periods. In the first,
from Urban V. to July 22, 1540, the popes grant to building con-
tractors or lime-burners the destruction of such and siich a monu-
ment, one third of the profits being reserved for the Apostolic
Chamber. Thus in 1431-62 the great travertine wall separating
the Senate-house from the Forum of Caesar was legally destroyed
by jiermissiou of Eugenius lY. and of his successors ; in 1461-62
the same fate befell the Tempi uni Sacrfp Urbis or Record Otfice ;
in 14.50 the Temple of Venus and Rome ; in 1499 the House of the
Vestals, etc. If the government treated the antique remains in
this fashion they could certainly not expect mere}' from private
hands. In reading the contracts signed between the owners of
ruins and their excavators, one is reminded of the expression of
PiiTO Ligorio, that " ruins were sold like oxen for the meat-mar-
ket." What I may call " excavation fever " had seized every class
of citizens, from the cardinals and noblemen, who wanted to link
their name to a museum or a villa, to the poor w'idow, who sought
to relieve her miseries by some unexpected find. Excavations
may be called the '' lotto " of the sixteenth century.

Sentence of death on the monuments of the Forum and of the
Sacra A"ia was passed on July 22, 1540. By a brief of Paul III.
(Farnese) ' the privilege of excavating or giving permission to ex-
cavate is taken away from the Capitoline or Apostolic chambers,
from the "magistrates of streets," from ecclesiastical dignitaries,
etc., and given exclusively to the " deputies " for the Fabbrica di
S. Pietro. The pope gives them full liberty to search for ancient
marbles wherever they please within and outside the walls, to
remove them from antique buildings, to pull these buildings to
pieces if necessary; he orders that no marbles can be sold by
private owners without the consent of the Fabbrica, under the
penalty of excommunication lakf sententice, of the wTath of the
pope, and of a fine of 1000 ducats. No pen can describe the
ravages committed by the Fabbrica in the course of the last sixty

1 Published by Miintz, Revue nrcheol., mai, 1884, from the original of the
Vatican archives. The importance of the docmnent has not yet been fully
appreciated by archaeologists.

248 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

years of the sixteenth century. The excesses roused the execra-
tion of the citizens, but to no purpose ; on May 17, 1580, the con-
servatori made an indignant protest to the town council, when a
portion of the Palace of the Caesars had fallen, in consequence of
its having been undermined by the searchers for marble. A depu-
tation was sent to Gregory XIII. to ask for the revocation of all
licenses (" ad perquu*endos lapides etiam pro usu fabricse Principis
apostolorum"). We may imagine what answer was given to the
protests of the city when we learn that by a brief of Clement
VIII., dated July 23, 1598, the archaeological jurisdiction of the
Fabbrica was extended over tlie remains of Ostia and Porto !
The Forum Romanum was swept by a band of devastators from
1540 to 1549 ; they began by removing the marble steps and the
marble coating of Faixstina's Temple (1540), then they attacked
what was left standing of the Arch of Fabius (1540). Between
1546 and 1547 the Temple of Julius C»sar, the Regia, with the
Fasti Consulares et Triumphales, fell under their hammer. The
steps and foundations of the Temple of Castor and Pollux were
next burnt into lime or given up to the stone-cutters, together
with the Arch of Augustus. The Temple of Vesta, the Augus-
taeum, and the shrine of Vortumnus, at the corner of the Vicus
Tuscus, met with the same fate in 1549.

The chronology of subsequent excavations is given by Charles
Bunsen, "Le forum ronumum explique selon I'etat des fouilles,"
Rome, avril 21, 1835, p. 4 ; Antonio Nibby, •' Roma antica," vol.
ii. p. 178 ; Pleinrich Jordan, " Topographie," vol. i^, p. 154, n. 1 ;
and " Sylloge inscript. fori Romani " (in Ephem. epigr., 1876, p.
244) ; Orazio Marucchi, " Descrizione del foro romano," Rome,
Befani, 1883, ch. ii. p. 9 ; but their accounts are only summary
sketches. A great many unknown documents will be published
in volumes iii. and iv. of " Storia degli Scavi di Roma," the pub-
lication of which has been announced above.

Froln the end of the sixteenth century downwards the more
noticeable events are, first of all, the raising of christianized pagan
edifices to the level of the modern city, by which they suffered
great damage. Urban VIII. is responsible for the modernization
of the Heroon Romuli, of the Templum Sacrae Urbis (SS. Cosma
e Damiano), of the Secretarium Senatus (S. Martina), and of
the Senate-house (S. Adriano) ; Paul V. and the architect Carlo
Lombardo for that of S. Maria Nova in 1615; the corporation
of apothecaries and their architect Torriani for that of S. Lorenzo
in Miranda (Temple of Antoninus and Faustina) in 1602 ; Cardi-

THE ROMAN FORUM 249

nal Marcello Laute and his architect Onorio Longhi for that of
S. Maria Antiqua (S. M. Liberatrice) in 1617 ; the trustees of the
Ospedale della Consohizioiie for that of S. Maria in Cannapara
(S. M. delle Grazie) in 1609.

Under Alexander VII. (1655-67) Leonardo Agostini excavated
and destroyed the greater part of the Portions Margaritaria. In
1742 a trencli ten metres deep was cut across the Forum to put
in order the Cloaca Maxima, which had become choked. The
Chevalier Fredenheim excavated the Basilica Julia between No-
vember, 1788, and March, 1789.

The end of the eighteenth century marks also the end of the
era of destruction in the valley of the Forum. Pius VII., whose
memory is dear to all lovers of art and antiquities, seconded by
Carlo Fea, his "commissario per le antichita," determined that
the historical monuments from the Capitol to the Coliseum should
be laid bare and their foundations strengthened if necessary. His
work, interrupted by the French invasion of 1809, was continued
by Comte Toiu'uon, the prefet of the Departement du Tibre.
Leo XII. began in 1827, and Gregory XVI. completed in 18.35,
another section of excavations from the Basilica Julia to the
Clivus Capitolinus. The Republicans of 1848—49 extended the
belt of discoveries along the north side of the Basilica Julia, and
Pius IX. completed their work between 1851 and 1852.

The Italian government undertook the general excavation of
the ground crossed by the Sacra Via from one end to the other a
few weeks after Rome was made the capital of the united king-
dom. Thirteen years' untii-ing labor and a sum of 2,000,000 lire
were required to accomplish the task. The progress of the works
can be followed by referring to the dates appended : —

1870. December; 1871, November. — Basilica Julia.

1871. — Streets adjoining the Temple of Castores, steps of temple, monumen-

tal columns on the south side of the Forum, Cloaca Maxima.

1872. — Space between temples of Castores and of Divus Julius, Rostra Julia,

shops on the east side of the Forum (destroyed in 1874).

1873. — Area of the Forum, sculptured plutei, pedestal of Caballus Constan-

tini. Temple of Vesta.

1874. — The neighborhood of Temple of Julius, site of Regia.
187f>. — Steps of Temple of Antoninus, and neighborhood.

1877-1879. — The Clivus Sacer from the Heroon Romuli to the Arch of Titus,
Basilica Xova, Arco di Latrone, front of Porticus Margaritaria, etc.

1882. — The Sacra Via by the Arch of Fabius, Arch of Fabius, shops of the
House of Vestals, shrine of the Vicus Vestae.

1883-1884. — House of Vestals, Nova Via.

250 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

We shall first study the area of the Forum, and the various
monuments which it contains ; then the edifices on the north side
(Senate-house, Temple of Janus, Basilica iEmilia) ; those of the
east side (Temple of Julius Cfesar, Ai-ch of Augustus, Temple of
Castores) ; those of the south side (Basilica Julia between the
Vicus Tuscus and the Vicus Jugarius) ; and lastly, those of the
west side (Temple of Saturn, Rostra, Arch of Severus, Tullianum)
and of the Clivus Capitolinus (Tenrple of Concord and of Ves-
pasian, Porticus Deorum Consentium, Tabularium, Capitolium,
Arx).

The bibliography of the Forum is particularly rich. There is
no book connected with Roman archaeology without a reference to
it. The works must be divided into three classes : (a) accounts of
discoveries of single buildings, sculptixre, inscriptions, etc., with
no attempt at a general reconstruction of the Forum ; (b) attempts
at a general i-econstruction of the Forum before the final excava-
tions of 1870-84 ; (c) works published after the excavations of
1870-84.

In the first class we find a precious source of information. The
series begins with an " Expose d'une decouverte de m. le chev.
Fredenheim faite au Forum romanum en Janvier, 1779," published
by Oberlin at Strassbourg in 1706, and ends with Pietro Pericoli's
" Storia delF Ospedale della Consolazione di Roma," 1879, where
the histoiy of the destruction of the Basilica Julia is I'elated from
unedited documents. Works of this class will be quoted in con-
nection with the single discoveries or monuments which they throw
light upon.

The second class has lost much of its importance, its elements
being necessarily rather speculative than founded on fact ; yet
students will find in works of this kind wonderful erudition, and
copious references to classic texts. Consult, among others —

Antonio Nibby, Bel foro roviano, della via sacra, etc., Rome, 1819; and
Roma nelV anno 1838, part i. vol. ii. p. 277. — Stefano Piale, Del foro romano,
ma posizione e f/randezza, Rome, 1818 (18.32); Delia basilica Giulia, 1824 (1833);
Dei tempi di Giano, etc., 1819 (1833). — Auguste Caristie, Plan et coupe d'une
partie du forum remain. Paris, 1829, fol. — Luigi Canina, Descrizione storica
del foro romano e sue adiacenze. Rome, 1834. — Charles Bunsen, Les forums
de Rome restaures et eapliques. Rome, 1837; and Beschreihung d. St. Rom,
vol. iii. B. — Ravioli and Montiroli, Ilforo romano. Rome, 1852. — Emil Braiin,
Das Forum (in Philologus, suppl. ii., 1862, p. 381, 6-^.). — Etfisio Tocco, Ripri-
stinazione del foro romano. Rome, 1858.

The excavations of 1870-84 have called forth a number of
works. Leaving aside those that refer to single discoveries or to

AREA OF THE FORUM

251

single monuments, mention of which will be found in the proper
place, the few of a general character are —

Heinrich Jordan, Capitol, Forum, und Sacra Via, Berlin, Weidmann, 1881 ;
Die uberreste des Forum (in Topographie, vol. i'-^, p. 154) ; and Sylloge inscript.
fori romani (in Ephem. epigraph., vol. iii., 1876, p. 237). — Edoardo Brizio,
Relazione . . . stille scoperte archeolor/iche dtlln citta . . . di Roma, 1873. —
Ferdinand Dutert, Le forum romnin tt les forums dt Jules Cesar, etc. Paris,
1876. — John H. Parker, The Roman Forum (in Archseology of Rome, vol. ii.
1876). — Francis M. Nichols, The Roman Forum. London, 1877. — Orazio
Marucchi, Descrizione delforo romano e guida per la risita dei suoi monumenti.
Rome, 1883. French edition. — John H. Middleton, The Forum Romanum,
and its Adjacent Biiildinys (in Remains of Ancient Rome, vol. i. chap. vi. p.
231). London, 1892. — Levy and Luckenbach, Forum romanum. Munich, 1895.

tm mm

Fig. 93. — Map of Forum and of Basilica Julia,

XXII. Area of the Forum. — The Forum is not rectangular,
as prescribed by A'itruvius (v. 1), but in the form of a trapezoid.
Before the construction of the Temple of Csesar, on the site where
his body had been cremated, it was 160 metres long. After the

252 A WALK THROVGII THE SACRA VIA

temi^le was built, its area was severed from that of the Forum, and
the Sacra Via made to pass between them ; by which measure the
Forum was reduced to a length of 102 metres. The breadth varies
from a maximum of 45 metres on the west side to a minimum of
36 metres at the east end.^ It is surrounded by streets on three
sides : by the Street ad Janum on the north, by the Sacra Via on
the east and south, while the Area Concordise and the winding
Clivus Capitolinus constitute its western boundary line.

The Sacra Via has been already described in the opening section
of this Book. The Street ad Janum took its name from the temple
of that god which stood at the entrance to the Via Argiletana,
between the Senate-house and the Basilica Fulvia-^milia. It ex-
tended from the Comitium to the Temple of Antoninus, limiting
the area of the Forum on the north side. At the beginning of
the seventh century of Rome it became the rendezvous of brokers,
money-changers, bankers, and usurers, who could find shelter from
rain or sun under the porticoes of the basilica. Cicero and Horace
describe the centre of the street — ad Janum medium — as the
Bourse or Exchange of ancient Rome. Modern writers, forgetting
that the adjectives " summus, medius, imus," applied to a slightly
inclined road, mean its highest, middle, and lowest point, have
imagined the existence on this road of three "jani" or four-faced
archways, and have even produced drawings of them. Bentley on
Horace (Epist., i. 1, 54) is the first to have found and suggested
the true meaning of those adjectives.

Literature. — F. M. Nichols, The Roman Forum, p. 240. — H. Jordan,
Una rettijicazione alia jnanta del for o (in Bull. Inst., 1881, p. 10.3). — Rodolfo
Lanciana, La cloaca maxima (in Bull, com., 1890, p. 98).

The Forum is paved negligently with slabs of travertine wliich
must date from the time of Diocletian, who repaired the ravages
of the fire of Carinus. The pavement was edged with a raised
border also of travertine, which, being only 0.72 metre wide, cannot
be called sidewalk, semita, but simplv margo. or border. Its most
noticeable feature consists of a series of square holes, which line
the edge (letter A) and look like the sockets in front of our palaces
and public buildings which held the fiaccole on the occasion of
festivities. Such holes are also to be found at Pompeii in the street
which runs along the so-called " Scuola al foro." Schoene thinks
they may have served to hold a wooden fence, to direct and contain

1 According to Varro the Forum originally measured septem jugera'=
17,539.20 square metres ; its actual surface does not exceed 41.31 square
metres.

AEEA OF THE FORUM

253

the crowd in election days ; but such cannot have been their pur-
pose in Rome, because they are to be found also in front of the
temples of -Julius Cfesar and of Castor and Pollux. It is more

Raised border (margo)

Pauement of
-045 V Sacra Via

Fig. 94. — The Margo of the Forum.

probable that the poles around our Forum and its neighboring
temples were used to support awnings during the summer months.
The situation of the Forum is such that, while it is exposed to the
full violence of the rays of the sun, the Capitoline and the Quirinal
shelter it from the north, and shut off refreshing breezes. In
summer the temperature is often above 100° in the shade. To
save the citizens from sunstroke, and to make it possible for judges
and advocates to discuss their cases, and for orators to address
their audience, the velaria were brought into use towards the end
of the Republican period. The merit of the invention seems to
belong to Julius Cjesar, who "totum forum romanum intexit,
viamque sacram." INIarcellus, the nephew of Augu.stus, while aedile
in 23 B. c, " veils forum inumbravit, ut salubrius litigantes con-
sisterent." ^ The same thing occurred in a. d. 39, as related by
Dion Cassius (lix. 23). At all events, we must not picture the
Forum to ourselves as being always a grave and solemn place, only
fit for legal discussions, for criminal prosecutions, popular indigna-
tion meetings, and so forth. The Forum could be also a gay and
festive place. Religieus ceremonies and pageants occasionallj^ took
place in it ; sacrifices were offered on temporary altars ; statues of
gods moved round in processions among the smoke of incense and
the singing of hymns ; military reviews, hunting-scenes, gladiatorial
fights, and games of every description were scenes in the drama of
this great stage. Thousands of citizens would sometimes sit down
in it at political or funeral banquets. Works of art and curiosities
were also exhibited in the Forum. L. Hostilius Mancinus, for
instance, the first Roman who entered Carthage, had a grand
panorama of the siege and capture of the Punic capital set up here,
while he would describe viva voce to the crowd the details of the
1 Pliny, Hist. Nat., xv. 20 ; xix. 6.

254 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

assault. Famous pictures and bronze or marble statues brought
over from Greece were also shown to the multitudes ; and such
wonders of nature as the serpent fifty cubits long, described
by Suetonius (Aug., 43). On the occasion of triumphs or proces-
sions, private citizens would lend their ai'tistic treasures and dra-
peries and carj)ets for the decoration of the Sacra Via. At night
the Forum was brilliantly illuminated.

Literature. — Th(5denat, in Daremberg and Saglio's Dictionnaire, p. 1280.
— F. M. Nichols, The Roman Forum, pp. 85-93.

The area of the Forum was encumbered with monuments of
various kinds. Leaving aside those of early Republican times,
which disappeared under the Empire (the columna Mcenia, the pila
Horcitla, the Venun Claarina, etc.), I shall only mention the few
the remains of which have been or can still be traced in our days.

XXIII. Columna Rostrata, or Columna Duilia, a marble pillar
ornamented with beaks of war-ships, erected in memory of the
naval victory gained by C. Duilius over the Carthaginians in 260
B. c. A fragment of its inscription was discovered in July, 1565,
between the Arch of Severus and the Column of Phocas, and re-
moved to the vestibule of the Palazzo dei Conservator!, where it is
to be seen at the foot of the stairs, under a more or less fanciful
model of the column. The inscription, although dating from the
time of Claudius, is not a copy of the original one. It is prolix,
slightly incorrect, and seems to have been made up by a gram-
marian from passages of early annalists. (See Corpus Inscr., vol.
i. pp. 37-40.)

XXIV. The Sculptured Plutei. — Between the Column of
Phocas and the Street of Janus, one of the most interesting monu-
ments was brought to light in September, 1872. It consists of two
screens or plutei of white marble, with bas-reliefs on either side,
surmounted with a richly carved cornice. Each screen, composed
of several pieces of marble (a few missing), stands on a foundation
of travertine, and a plinth of marble, which is a modern and doubt-
ful addition. The exact state in which the bas-reliefs were found
in September, 1872, is shown in the following cut (Fig. 95). The
inside panels represent the three animals sacrificed in the great
lustral ceremony of the suoi^etaurilia — the sow, the ram, and the
bull — all adorned with ribbons, and all moving in the direction of
the Basilica Julia. The outer reliefs represent historical scenes,

THE SCULPTURED PLUTEI

255

with a view of the Forum itself on the background. Their mean-
ing has given rise to much controversy. Consult —

Wilhelm Henzen, Rilievi cU inarmo scoptrti nel J", r. (in Bull. Inst., 1872,
p. 273). — Edoardo Brizio, in Annal. Inst., 1872, p. 309, pi. 47. — Camillo
Ravioli, II soggetto esposto nei bassorilievi del J", r. (in Corrispondenza scien-
tilica, 1872, anno 25, n. 14, 15). — C. Ludovico Visconti, Beux actesde Domitien
en qualite de censeur, etc. Rome, 1873. — F. M. Nichols, The Roman Forum,
pp. 60-68. — .1. H. Parker, The Forum (in Archeology of Rome, vol. ii. pi.
13). — Orazio Marucchi, Importanza topografica del bassorilieiil delf.r. (in Gli
studi in Italia, 1880, i. p. 678); and Bull. Inst., 1881, pp. 11, 33. — Heinrieh
Jordan, Topographie, i^, p. 220. — Luigi Cantarelli, Osservazioni sitlla scene net
bassorilievi del/, r. (in Bull, com., 1889, p. 99).

It seems almost certain that the scene facing the Capitol
alludes to the provision made by Trajan for the education and
maintenance of children of poor or deceased citizens (" pueri et
puellse alimentarii "). The J^niperor is seated on a suggestum
addressing a female figure, a personification of Italy, who carries
an infant on the left arm, while another child probably stood on
her right. On the opposite side of the same picture the Empei-or

Fig. 95. — The Fragments of the Marble Plutei, discovered in September, 1872.

is represented addressing the crowd from the Rostra. The second
bas-relief, facing the south, represents the burning of the registers
in which the sums due to the Fiscus by negligent tax-payers -were
recorded. This act of generosity of Trajan is praised by Ausonius.

256

A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

The importance, however, of these panels rests in the view of the
background, which represents the scene that was in reality before
the spectator, the Forum and its surroundings.

The view begins on the left with the Rostra Julia, from which
the Emperor is addressing the crowd ; behind him we see (a) the
Arch of Augustus, (h) the Temple of Castor and Pollux, (c) the

THE SCULPTURED P LUTE I

257

opening of the Viciis Tuscus, {<!) the Basilica Julia. The design
of the latter is continued on the second bas-relief facing the Capi-
tol. Next comes (e) the Temple of Saturn, (y') a fragment of tlie
Tabularium (?), {g) the Temple of Vespasian, (Ji) the Rostra
Vetera, represented in a conventional form. The statue of Mar-
syas and the Ficus Ruminalis, which appear in both panels, sym-
bolize the Forum and the Comitium. (See Jordan's Marsyas auf
den Forum. Berlin, 1883.)

Opinions differ very much as to what purpose — beyond a com-
memorative object — these two screens served. Nichols suggests

Fig. 97. —The Rostra as represented in a Bas-relief of the Arch of Constantine.

that they "formed a sort of an avenue leading to an altar and
statue of the Emjieror, in whose honor the monument may have
been erected after his deification." Middleton supposes " that they
formed a sort of gangway through which voters had to pass to
reach the ballot-boxes on the Comitium, in order to facilitate the
onward movement of the crowd of citizens in an orderly stream."
Tt is almost certain, however, that the plutei are not in their
original place ; so that all speculation about their scope is useless.
They must have been placed on their rough travertine socles by
Diocletian in his restoration of the Forum after the fire of Carinus.

258 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

Thedenat seems to attribute them to the Rostra Vetera (Diction-
naire, p. 1305).

XXV. Monumental Columns on the Sacra Via. — Near
and along the margo which limits the j)avement of the Forum
on the south side stand eight square pedestals of monumental
columns, the shafts of which, varying in size and quality, are lying
close by. The first column near the southeast corner was covered
with ornaments of gilt bronze, as shown by the holes of the clamps
to which they were riveted. Other shafts are of gray or red gran-
ite, and one is of white marble. Professor Jordan has been able to
date the erection of these pillars by means of brick-stamps which
can still be seen at the foot of the fii'st and third pedestals :
they belong to the age of Constantine. Five pillars of this kind
are represented in a bas-relief of the triumj)hal arch of that Em-
peror, the background of which is almost as interesting for the
topography of the Forum as that of the plutei described abo\'e.
The first building on the left is the Basilica Julia ; the second is
the Arch of Tiberius (?) ; then come five monumental columns,
supporting statues, and last of all the Arch of Severus. The
Emperor is delivering a speech from the Rostra Vetera. If these
columns were raised on their pedestals the picturesqueness and
interest of the Forum would be greatly enhanced.

Literature. — Carlo Fea, Varietadi Notizie, p. 71. — Francesco Ficoroni,
Memorie, n. 80. — Heiurich .lordau, Bull. Inst., 1881, p. lOG; Ann. Inst., 1883,
p. 49; and Ephemeris ejjigraphica, p. 259. — Otto Richter, Die romische Red-
nerbiihnt (in .Jahrbueh, 1889, pp. 8-14).

XXVI. The Caballus Constantini (Equestrian Statue of
Constantine). — In 1873 an official announcement was given to
the archaeological world of the discovery of the "pedestal of
Domitian's equestrian statue " in the middle of the Forum. (See
Pietro Rosa, Relazione, p. 71.) They did not hesitate to identify
as a famous work of art of the golden age a rough and ugly bit of
masonry, resting, without foundations, on the travertine pavement
of the time of Diocletian ; they did not recollect that the eques-
trian statue cannot have survived the " memorise damnatio " of
Domitian ; that it must have perished the very day of his death ;
and that, if it had not been described accidentally by a contem-
porary poet (Statins, Silv., 1). no one would ever have had a sus-
picion of its existence. The pedestal belongs very likely to the
Caballus Constantini, mention of which occui's in documents of
the seventh and eightli centuries. The equestrian group was

MONUMENTS OF THE GOTHIC WARS 259

raised in 334, and its commemorative inscription is given by the
" Corpus," vol. vi. n. 1141.

Beferences. — Carlo Fea, in Winckelmann's Htoriii dcW arte, vol. iii. p.
410. — Charles Bunsen, Forum, \). 15. — Heinrich Jordan, Ephe7n. epiyr., vol.
lii. p. 256. — Gio. Battista de Rossi, Inscript. christ., vol. ii. 5. — Rodolfo Lan-
ciaui, Itinerar. Einsiedltn, p. 20.

XXVII. Unknown Building on the east side, opposite the
Temple of Julius. — Three buildings of the late J]mpire, not later
at all events than the end of the sixth century, were raslily de-
stroyed in 1872-74, under the pretext that they did not belong to
the classic age. Jordan has described them carefully, p. 252 of
vol. iii. of the " Ephemeris epigraphica," and considers their dis-
appearance as a " maximum detrimentum " to the study of the
P"'orum. The first stood near the marble plutei, the second near
the Column of Phocas, the third extended over the whole east side
of the Forum, from the Vicus Tuscus to the Street ad Janum, and
consisted of five large rooms, handsomely decorated with marble
cornices, pieces of which are still left in situ. Rather than shops
I would consider them used for a public office like that of the
"scribfe sedilium curulium " at the opposite end of the Forum.
An inscription discovered here on May 13, 1872, engraved on an
architrave 3.44 metres long, relates how Lucius Valerius Septi-
mius Bassus, pi'efect of the city between 379 and 383, had dedi-
cated the structure to which the architrave belongs, in honor of
Gratianus, Valentinian, and Theodosius. Perhaps this is the date
of the building destroyed by Rosa.

XXVIII. Monuments of the Gothic and Gildonic Wars.

— On the Street ad Janum, opposite the Senate-house, stands an
historical monument, relating to the Gothic wars of the beginning
of the fifth century. The inscription, fifteen lines long, praises
the fidelity and valor shown by the army of Arcadius, Ilonorius,
and Theodosius, in the mighty struggle which ended with the
defeat of Radagaisus in 405. The victory is attributed to Stilicho,
the Roman leader : " confectum gothicum bellum . . . consiliis
et fortitudine magistri utriusque militife Flavii Stilichonis." The
memorial set up by decree of the S. P. Q. R. under the care of
Pisidius Romulus, prefect of the city in 405, is the meanest and
poorest in the whole Forum, and shows how low Roman pride,
taste, and finance had fallen in those days. It is made of two
blocks — one of travei'tine, which forms the base, and one of

260 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

marble above it. This last had been already used as a pedestal to
an equestrian statue of bronze ; the statue was knocked off, the
pedestal set negligently upright on one of the ends, its cracks re-
adjusted with iron clamps, and the new inscription written across
the old one after the latter had been obliterated with care.

The details of the struggles which mark this period of the agony
of the Western Empire are copiously described by the monuments
found or existing in this corner of the Forum. In August, 1539,
two pedestals were found between the Arch of Severus and the
church of SS. Sergio e Bacco : one recording the African ex-
ploits of Stilicho, the other set up by the same Pisidius Romulus
" pro singulari eius (Stilichonis) amore atque providentia." The
first was removed to the Palazzo Capranica alia Valle, the second
to the Villa Medici. In 1519-65, a few feet from the monument
of 405, Cardinal Fai'nese found the base of an equestrian group
raised to Arcadius and Honorius, in commemoration of their vic-
tory over Count Gildo, the African rebel of 398. The inscribed
slabs of this monument are still lying abandoned in disorder in
this vicinity. In the same year 405 a triumphal arch w^as raised
to the three Emperors, "because they had wiped off from the
face of the earth the nation of the Goths." Four years later Rome
was stormed by the very barbarians whom they boasted to have
annihilated.

Literature. — Christian Huulsen, // monumento della (juerrn f/ihioiiica sul
foro Romano, in Mittheil., 1895, p. 52. — Notizie degli Scari, 1880, p. 53. —
Heinrich Jordan, Silloge inscr. fori romani, n. Ill, Ilia, 122. — Corpus Jn-
script., vol. vi. n. 1187,1730, 1731.

XXIX. The Column of Phocas. — The pedestal of this
column, to which the most conflicting names had been given by
early topographers, was discovered in the morning of February
23, 1813, with the inscription which tells the tale of its erection.
According to this document, the pillar was set up in honor of
Phocas by Zmaragdus, exarch of Italy, "jDro innumerabilibus
pietatis eius beneficiis, et pro quiete procurata Italise," and dedi-
cated on August 1, 608. It is the last monument ei'ected in the
Forum yet free from the ruins which were to bury and conceal it
so soon after : it marks the close of the ancient period and the
beginning of the Middle Ages. The brick pedestal is exactly like
the eight others which line the Sacra Via ; it was concealed from
view by a flight of nine marble steps, each 0.36 of a metre high.
The inscription is engraved on the marble base which stands at

THE COLUMN OF PHOCAS

261

the top of the steps. Tlie cohimu is fourteen metres high, with a
diameter of 1.89 metres, and leans considerably towards the south-
east. Its style (and that of its capital) is certainly better than

Fig. 9S. - The Column of Phocas- The Marble Plutei in the Foreground.

that prevailing in the seventh century; therefore, either the
column has been removed bodily from a classic edifice, or else
Zmaragdus dedicated to Phocas a monument which, up to his
time, had borne another name. I believe that the words of the

262 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

inscription, " Zmaragdus has placed a gilt statue of liis Emperor
on the top of this sublime column," must be understood in the
latter sense.

References. — Diario di Roma, .5 marzo, 1817 ; 4 agosto, 1818. — F. Au-
relin Visconti, Lettera sopra la cohmnn di Fuca. Rome, de Romani.s, 181-3. —
Carlo Fea, Osservaz. suW anfiteatro Flavio, p. 63, n. 3. — Iscrizioni di monu-
nienti pubblici. Rome, Contedini, 1813, ii. 2. — Corpus Inscr., vol. vi. ii. 1200.

BUILDINGS ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE FORUM.

XXX. Curia Hostilia — Curia Julia — Senatus (XXIII
in plan). — The Senate-house was, politically speaking, the most
important building in the Roman world. The place where it
stands was occupied at an early age by a small wood, by a cave
overgrown with ivy, and by a spring, at which Tarpeia was draw-
ing water when she saw Tatius for the first time. The first sena-
tors met here, dressed in sheepskins, in a square hut covered by a
thatched roof. TuUus Hostilius gave the patres conscrlpti a better
seat, an oblong hall, built of stone on the northeast side of the
Comitium, raised on a platform above the reach of floods, and
accessible by a flight of steps, down which the body of Servius
was hurled by Tarquinius. Inside, it contained several rows of
benches, the Speaker's chair, a small apartment for the archives,
and a vestibule. The outside wall on the Argiletum was decorated
in 264 B. c. with a picture representing the victory of M. Valerius
Messalla over King Hieron of Syracuse. Hence the name ad tahu-
lam Valeriam popularly given to the place. We must remember
also that, the Senate being forbidden to vote a measure unless
assembled in a temple, their hall was consecrated. Cicero calls it
sometimes a templum inauguratum, sometimes templum puhlici ron-
cilii. So extreme was the frugality and self-denial of Republican
senators that they had never allowed their hall to be warmed in
winter. On January 6, 62 b. c, Cicero wrote to his brother that
the Speaker Appius had summoned the senators to an important
meeting, when it grew so cold that he was obliged to dismiss the
assembly, and expose its members to the railleiy of the populace.
Such was the Curia Hostilia.

Sulla repaired and perhaps enlarged it in 80 b. c. 'Twenty-
eight years later, it was burned down by the partisans of Clodius.
The revolutionary instincts of the mob having been aroused by
fiery speeches from the Rostra, a certain Sextus Clodius, a scribe,
broke into the Curia at the head of a band of roughs carrying the
body of the murdered anarchist, and, having made a pp-e of the

THE CURIA JULIA

263

benches, tables, books, and shelves, set the building ablaze and
destroyed it Avitli the adjoining Basilica Porcia.

The task of reerecting it in a more splendid form was given
by the Senate to Faustus, son of Sulla, with the promise that it
should be called, from both of them. Curia Cornelia. The works
were interrupted a few years later, and Lepidus the triumvir was
asked to substitute for the Curia a temple of Felicitas. In M b. c,
however, Julius Cfesar, who hated to see the name of the Cornelii
attached to the Senate-house, obtained for himself the commission

FORUM JULIUM

COMITIUM
Fig. 99. — Plau of the Senate-House, rebuilt by Diocletian.

to rebuild it under the name of Curia Julia. The works inter-
rupted by the death of the dictator, on jNIarch 15, 44, were con-
tinued by the trium^-irs, and completed by Augustus. The solemn
dedication took place in 725 ('20 a. d.). a j'ear famous for the three
triumphs celebrated by the founder of the Empire, and for the
closing of the Temple of Janus pace terra marique parta. Au-
gustus added to the Curia Julia a chalcidicum (called in later times
Atrium Minervoi), a court surrounded by a colonnade ; placed in
the hall two famous pictures signed by Nicias and Philochares, the
statue of Victory from Tarentum, and an altar before it, which
was inaugurated on August 28 of the same year, 29. It is need-
less to state that the Curia Julia occupied absolutely the same con-
secrated space, the same templum inauguratmn as the old Curia Hos-
tilia, and that the new inauguration mentioned by Gellius (xiv. 7)
refers not to the hall itself, but to the additions made to it.

The Curia Julia suffered great damage from the fire of Xero,

264

A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

and was repaired by Domitian. Another fire burnt it to the
ground under Carinus, and Diocletian reconstructed it under the
name of Senatus. I have found in the Ufiizi at Florence and in
the Kunstgewerbe Museum at Berlin, a precious set of drawings
by Antonio da Sangallo, Baldassarre, Sallustio Peruzzi, and others,
in which Diocletian's work is illustrated in every architectural and
decorative detail.

Literature. — Rodolfo Lanciani, L' aula e gli uffici del Senato romano,
Rome, Salviucci, 1883 (Atti Lincei, vol. xi. 28 genn. 1883) ; and Ancient Rome,
p. 77. — Tliedenat, in Daremberg and SagUo's Dictivnnaire, p. 1293.

The Senate-house formed a rectangle .51.28 metres long and 27.54
metres wide, with the front on the Comitium, and the back resting
against the inclosure wall of the Forum Julium, a huge construc-
tion of tufa and travertine (see Fig. 99).

On the right side it touched the Argiletum, viz., the open space
preceding the Forum Transitorium, in the middle of which stood
the Temple of Janus ; on the left it bordered on a small square
ornamented with a fountain, composed of a river god (the Marfo-
rio of the Capitoline Museum) from whose urn the water fell into
a tazza of granite (now in front of the Quirinal palace). The hall
itself was 25.20 metres long, 17.61 metres wide. Its walls were
covered with marble incrustations like those of SS. Cosma e

Damiano, of the Hierusa-
lem (S. Croce), of the
Basilica of Junius Bas-
sus, etc., and they are de-
scribed by A. da Sangallo
and Etienne du Perac.
Cardinal du Bellay de-
stroyed them about 1550.
I have discovered a sketch
of three panels in a draw-
ing formerly in the Des-
tailleur collection, now
in the Kunstgewerbe at
Berlin (portfolio f. A.
376, pi. 35). The quality
of the marbles is carefully noted : " sei'pentin, porfide, marmo,"
etc., and also the position of the panels : " deli dui bande de la
nice " on either side of the apse.

The hall was covered by a vaulted ceiling, with heavily gilt

Fig. 100. -

- The Marble Incrustations of the Senate
Hall.

THE SEN ATE- HO USE

265

Fig. 101. — Details of Cornice of the Senate Hall.

lacunaria. On the outside, the building appeared rather shabby :

plain brick walls were plastered over in imitation of marble. The

cornice was more elaborate,

as shown by the following

sketch of the Anonymus of

Destailleur.

The bas-reliefs of the ped-
iment represented, accord-
ing to Ligorio (Bodl., p. 7),
" certi mostri marini chia-
mati Tritoni quali suona-
vano certe bucine. ..."
Traces of the stucco work
can still be seen in the up-
per part of the fa9ade. The Senate-house was doubly christian-
ized : the hall of assembly at the time of Pope Honorius I. (circa
630), under the invocation of S. Adriano ; the offices or secreta-
7-ium ajiiplLssimi Senatus, about the same epoch, under the invoca-
tion of S. Martina. They kept their classic form and retained
their classic adornments until the beginning of the seventeenth
centm-y. Cardinal Michele Bonelli under Sixtus V. cut the build-
ing in two with his new " Via Bonella." The church of S. Adri-
ano was modernized jiartly in 1580 by Cardinal Agostino Cusano,
partly in 1654 by Alfonso Sotomayor ; that of S. Martina by Ur-
ban VIII. and Piero da Cortona.

The bronze gates of the Curia were removed to S. Giovanni in
Laterano by Alexander VII., but as the folds measured only 5.79
metres in height and 3.56 in width, while the size of the Lateran
door was considerably larger, Borromini was obliged to add a band
to the ancient metal work. The band is ornamented with the
typical stars of the Chigi. Martinelli says that while the bronze
folds were thus adapted to their new destination, several coins
were discovered hidden between the inside and outside panels, one
of which bore the name and the image of Domitian.

Literature. — Giuseppe Biaiichini, Dissertazione sopra In Curia (in Cod.
Vat., 8113, f. 113). — Lucas Holstenius, De origine ecclesim S. Hadriani (in
Fea's Miscellanea, vol. i. p. 306). — Luigi Canina, Sufili edijici esistenti nel
luogo ora occupato dalln chiesa di S. Martina. Rome, 1830. — Theodor Monimsen,
De Comitio romano, curiis, Janique templo (in Annal. Inst., 1844, p. 288). —
Franz Reber, Die Larje der Curia Hontilia iind der Curia Julia, 18.58. — Detlef-
.sen, De Comitio romano (in Annal. Inst., 1860, p. 138). — Auer, Der Altar der
Gottin Victoria in der Curia Julia zu Rom. Vienna, 18.59. — Rodolfo Lanciani,
Z,' aula e gli uffici del Senato romano, Rome, Salviucci, 1883 (Atti Lincei,

266 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

vol. xi. "28 gean. 188;3). — J. H. Middletoii, The, Remains of Ancient Rome,
vol. i. p. 239. — Christian Huelsen, D<is Comitium und seine Denkmdler (in
Mittheil., 1893, p. 279, pi. 4) with the comments of Th^denat, in Daremberg
and Saglio's Dictionnaire, p. 1292, n. 7.

XXXI. The Comitium (XXIV in plan). — The space between
the Rostra Vetera and the front of the Senate-house, neatly paved
with slabs of travertine, marks the site of the Comitium. It must
be remembered that the street passing through the Arch of Sejv
timius Severus, by which the Rostra and the Forum are separated
from the Comitium, is an addition of the third century after Christ.
Before it, the two places were separated only by a few steps. In
the early days of Rome the Comitinm was the centre of civil and
political business, while the Forum was simply used as a market-
place ; but with the increase of the population and with the spread
of democracy the centre was shifted to the Forum, and the Co-
mitium lost forever its importance. Its main ornaments wei'e the
statue of Atta Navius, the augur who cut the whetstone with the
razor, and the puteal under which whetstone and razor had been
buried ; and the Jicux Naria, a hg-tree which the popular fancy
believed to have been transplanted here from the banks of the
Tiber by the same miracle-working augur. It was considered to
represent the Jicus ruminalis which had sheltered with its shade
the infant twins sucking the she wolf ; and this event was recorded
by a bronze group not unlike the one now preserved in the Palazzo
dei Conservatory (Compare Ilelbig's Guide to the Collection of
Antiquities in Rome, vol. i. p. 459, n. 618.) There were also the
statues of Porsena, of Iloratius Codes, of Hermodoros from Ephe-
sus, who had lielped the decemvirs in the codification of the laws,
of Pythagoras, Alcibiades, and others. Concerning the last men-
tioned, Emiio Quirino Visconti observes that the noble statue of
the Museo Pio Clementino, known as the " Gladiatore " or the
" Atleta Mattel" (No. 611 sala della Biga), is nothing else than a
marble copy of the bronze figure of Alcibiades in the Comitium,
and corroborates his statement by comparing the features of the
head with those of bust Xo. 510 in the Hall of the Muses, inscribed
with the name of the Greek hero. Eniil Braun (Ruins and Muse-
ums, p. 282, n. 166) says : " It is not impossible that this statue,
originally in the Villa Mattel, is a repetition of that placed upon
the Comitium, although positive proofs are wanting." Wolfgang
Helbig (Guide, etc., vol. i. pp. 192 and 235) denies any connection
between the marble of the Vatican and the bronze of the Comitium.

The only monuments visible in the narrow ledge of the Comi-

THE TEMPLE Of JULIUS CjESAR 2,&1

tium yet excavated are two marble pedestals of statues dedicated,
one to Flavins Julius Coustantius (350-361), by Memmius Vitrasius
Orfitus, prefect of the city in 353-354 ; the other to Arcadius (395-
408), by Ceionius Rufius Albinus, prefect in 398. These and other
pedestals lined the border of the Comitium towai'ds the Argiletum,
the pavement of which has been excavated for a length of ten or
fifteen metres only.

References. — Brecher, Die Lage des Comitium, etc. Berlin, 1870. — H.
Dernburg, Uber die Lage des Comitium und des prdtorischen Tribunals (in
Bull. Inst., 1863, p. 38). — Theodor Mommsen, Be Comitio romano, etc. (in
Aunal. Instit., vol. xvi., 1844, p. 288). — Franz Reber, Bie Lage der Curia.
1858. — Detlefsen, Be Comitio romano (in Ann. Inst., vol. xxxii., 1860, ]).
138, pi. D). — Rodolfo Lanciani, Atti Lincei, vol. xi. 28 genn. 1883.^Thonias
Dyer, Roma (in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, vol. ii. p. 775). —
Orazio Marucchi, Bescript. du forum romain, p. 51. — Christian Huelsen (in
Mittheilungen, vol. viii., 1893, p. 279).

The other two buildings on the north side of the Forum were
the Temple of Janus (XXIV A) and the Basilica Emilia (XXV).
Both still lie buried under the modern embankment ; and as it is
not my scope to write a manual on Eoman topography, but simply
to guide the student and the traveler in their visit to monuments
and ruins which have been made accessible by modern excavations,
I shall proceed at once to describe the

BUILDINGS OX THE EA.ST SIDE OF THE FORUM.

XXXn. ^DES Divi luLii (Temple of Julius Caesar) (XXVI
in plan). — The spot where the body of Caesar had been cremated
on March 17. 44, was consecrated by the erection of an altar and
of a column of Xumidian marble, on which the words parenti patrice
were inscribed. The illicit worship was stopped by Antonius ; C.
Amatius, the leader of the populace, was put to death, and many
of his partisans were crucified, if slaves ; or, if citizens, hurled
from the Tarpeian rock. In 42 b. c, however, the triumvirs
decided to erect a temple on the historical spot; Augustus began
its construction in 33, and dedicated it on August 18 of the
memorable year 725 (29 a. d.). The programme of the ceremony
included, among other performances, the Trojan games, gladiato-
rial and theatrical shows, and an exhibition of wild beasts upon
which the Romans had never set eyes before. The temple was
enriched with treasures conquered in the Egyptian campaign and
with pictures representing the Dioscui-i, the Victory, and the Venus
Anadvoraene. This last, a masterpiece of Apelles, having been

268

A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

injured by damp and age, was removed from the temple by Nero,
who substituted in its place another by Dorotheos.

The temple, being in the lowest portion of the Forum and of the
Sacra Via, was raised on a high platform to protect it from the
inundations of the Tiber. This platform of concrete was strength-
ened by perimetral and cross-walls made of blocks of tufa and
travertine, which were stolen away in the excavations of 1543, so
that it is hardly possible to-day to recognize the former shape of
the temple. The fragments of its entablature (one of which is
lying on the platform) belong to a very late restoration. The
following view of the platform was taken in 1872 at the very
moment of its discovery.

The remains of a semicircular tribune on the edge of the podium
pertain to the celebrated Rostra Julia, ornamented by Augustus
with the beaks of the ships captured in the battle of Actium. It

#.%.-^i^

-Jii--x^mm

Fig. 102. — The Rostra Julia aud the Temple of Caesar.

was from this tribune that the same emperor pronounced the ora-
tion on the death of his sister Octavia. Tiberius likewise spoke
from it on the occasion of the funeral of Augustus. A medal
struck in the year 119, repi'esenting an allocution of Hadrian, from
the same rostra, proves that they continued to be used for Imperial
communications for a lona; time.

THE TEMPLE OF CASTOR AND POLLUX

269

References. — Babelou, Moiin. de la republique, ii. p. 59, ii. 138. — Cohen,
Monn. impth:, Hadrian, n. 416—119. — Edoardo Brizio, in Rosa's Relazione suite
scoperte archtologiche, etc., Rome, 1873, p. 59 ; and Bulleit. Instit., 1872, pp.
225, 237. — Heinrich Jordan, Der Tempel des d. Julius (in Hermes, ix. p. 342).

— Otto Richter, Die Augustbauten auf dem Forum (in Jahrbuch Arch. Instit.,
1889, p. 140 ; and Mittheilungen of the same Institute, 1888, p. 99).

XXXIII. Triumphal Arch of Augustus (XXVII in plan).

— In the same year (725) in which the dedication of the Temple
ot" Cfesar and of the Curia Julia took place, Augustus celebrated
three triumphs for his victories in Dalmatia, in Egypt, and at
Actium, and the Senate offered him a triumphal arch in the Forum.
The same honor was granted to him in IS b. c. for the recovery of
the flags and of the j^risoners lost by Licinius Crassiis in the Par-
thian war. Otto Richter discovered the foundations of the arch of
725 in 1888, in the narrow space which separates the Temple of
C?esar from that of the Castores. I myself proved, as far back as
1882, that this arch had been found and destroyed by the workmen
of the fabbrica di S. Pietro between 1540 and 1546 exactly in that
place, and that the inscription in " Corpus," vol. vii. n. 872, belonged
to it. The arch had three openings like the one of Severus.

Literature. — Rodolfo Lanciani, Notizie degli Scavi, April, 1882. — Otto
Richter, Mittheil., 1888, p. 99; and Jahrbuch, 1889, pp. 153-157. — F. Nichols,
The Roman Forum, p. 140; Bull, com., 1888, p. 117. — Theodor Mommsen,
Res gestm, 9. — Christian Hueisen, Mittheil., 1889, p. 244.

XXXIV. ^DES Castorum (Temple of Castor and Pollux)
(XXVIII in plan). —

This was dedicated by
A. Postumius on January
27, 482 B. c, on the spot,
near the pool of Juturna,
where the Dioscuri had
appeared in 496 to an-
nounce the victory of
Lake Regillus. It was
rebuilt in 119 by L. Me-
tellus Dalmaticus with
the prize money of the
Dalmatian war, and or-
namented with statues
and pictures, among

which was the portrait of Y\g. 103. — Fragment of the Marble Plan with Tein-
Flora the courtesan. Al- pie of Castores.

270 A WALK THROUGH THE SACBA VIA

though named officially from both the Dioscuri, it went usually
by that of Castor alone, as shown, among other documents, by the
fragment of the marble plan discovered in 1882 (Fig. 103).

Bibulus, whose name was never pronounced with that of Caesar,
his more famed colleague in the a3dileship, used to say that he
shared the same fate as Pollux. It is interesting to follow the
story of the extortions of Verres in connection with this temple,
as related by Cicero, because it throws much light on the system
adopted by the Romans to keep their buildings in repair. The
censors had entered into a contract with P. Junius, to take charge
of the temple and of its contents for a fixed yearly sum of money.
Junius died leaving a son, a minor, in w^hose name the contract
was transferred to a L. Rabonius. Verres, who, as praetor urba-
nus, had special cognizance of repairs to public buildings, thinking-
it intolerable that out of so great a temple and so large a contract
he should not obtain some plunder, summoned Rabonius before
him to declare what could be required from his ward that he
had not fulfilled. The answer was that no difficulty whatever had
arisen from the contract and that the temple was in perfect repair.
Verres goes himself to inspect the building. " The only thing
you can do here," suggests one of his accomplices, " is to require
the columns to be made perpendicular." In Junius' contract,
though the number of columns was specified, not a word was said
about the perpendicular ; yet, overpowered by Verres, L. Rabonius
agrees to do the work at 560,000 sesterces, the sum to be taken
out of the minor's estate, and to find its way, for the greater part,
into the praetor's hands. The work done, under these circum-
stances, is thus described by Cicero : " Those columns which you
see freshly whitened have been taken down by machinery and
erected again with the same stones. Nay, some of them have not
been touched at all. There is one from which the old plastering
only has been removed, and new stucco applied." We gather
from the words of Cicero that the columns of the temple of
Metellus were of stone covered with fine stucco, like those of the
temples of Fortuna Virilis, of Hercules Magnus Custos, and of
Cybele on the Palatine.

The Temple of Castor, with its lofty substructures and com-
manding situation, was one of the most conspicuous objects of the
Forum, and became in turbulent times a rallying-point of great
political importance. Popular meetings were often held in front
of it, when its pronaos served the purpose of the Rostra. In 88
B. c. Sulla and Q. Pompeius Rufus, his colleague in the consvil-

THE TEMPLE OF CASTOR AND POLLUX 271

ship, were attacked here by the partisans of jNIarius. The contest
between Cato and Metellus, respecting the recall of Pompeius
fi'om Asia, also took place on the terrace before the temple. In
68 B. c, during the troubled consulate of Piso, when Cicero's
banishment was discussed, the temple fell into the hands of the
partisans of Clodius ; its steps were torn up and used as missiles,
and the building became, in the words of Cicero, a citadel in the
hands of his political enemies.

The present ruins, considered to be a gem of art, date from the
reconstruction of Tiberius and Drusus, 7 b. c. Caligula opened
a communication between the cella and his palace, pretending he
would make the sons of Jupiter and Leda his private doorkeepers.
He also used to place himself unobserved between the statues of
the divine twins, so as to get a share in the honors paid to them.
Claudius restored the temple to its former state.

Two annual celebrations were connected with it, — one on Janu-
ary 27, the anniversary day of the dedication ; another on July
15, in memory of the battle of Lake Regillus. The Roman
knights, five thousand strong, waving olive branches, clad in pur-
ple garments, and wearing the decorations gained on the battle-
field, mustered at the Temple of Mars outside the walls, and, after
marching through the city, passed in front of the Temple of the
Dioscuri, presenting a sight worthy, as Dionysius says, of Rome's
Imperial greatness.

No remains of a classic edifice have been studied, sketched, ad-
mired by artists as have the three standing columns of this temple.
Baldassarre Peruzzi calls them la piti hella e meglio lavorata ojjera
di Roma. The temple must have fallen at a very early period,
because the lane between S. M. Liberatrice and S. M. della Grazie
has been called via trium coiumnarum at least since the end of the
fourteenth century. The first excavations of which w"e have posi-
tive knowledge date from tlie end of the quattrocento. They are
described by Pomponio Leto and Francesco Albertino. The sec-
ond date from 1516-49, wlien, according to Ligorio, two pieces of
the entablature were discovered, one of which served Loi-enzetto
for his Jonah in the Chigi chapel at S. M. del Popolo ; the other,
Michelangelo for the pedestal of the equestrian statue of M.
Aurelius. Ligorio, as usual, tells a falsehood, because the Jonah
was finished in the lifetime of Raphael (f 1520). In 1773 part of
the walls of the cella w'as destroyed, the marble coating removed,
and even some of the foundation walls demolished for the sake of
the blocks of stone of w hich they were built. In consequence of

272

A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

this last spoliation, the size of the substructures is reduced by
half, that is to say, it is reduced to only the central mass of con-
crete ; but the impressions left against this mass by the blocks of
stone of which the outside wall was built enable us to get an
idea of the original size. (See Fig. 104.)

Fig. 104. — The Substructure of the Temple of Castores.

Other excavations took place in 1799, 1811, 1816, and 1818.
The temple was finally liberated from the accumulation of mod-
ern soil in December, 1871 (on three sides only).

The temple, in common with other religious edifices, was used
as a safe or repository for objects of value, which private owners
were afraid of retaining at home. There was also a poyiderarium
of standard weights and measures, many of which are found in
our excavations inscribed wdth the words 'EXACtum ad CASXORes.
A fragment of the great inscription of the frieze lies at the foot
of the stairs ; it contains traces only of two letters, which have
been completed by Professor Tomassetti : —
(PoUuci • e)T • c(astori).

Literature. — Maurice Albert, Le culte de Castor et Pollux en Italie.

THE BASILICA JULIA 273

Paris, 1883. — Luigi Canina, Supplem. al Besgodets, chap. x. pi. 33. — Antonio
Nibby, Roma neW anno 1838, part i. vol. ii. p. 82. — Pietro Rosa, Rduzione
mile scoperte. Rome, 1873, p. 53. — Rodolfo Lanciani, Bull. J)i.-<t., 1871, p. 11.
— Giuseppe Gatti, Annal. Inst., 1881, p. 181, pi. N. — Giuseppe Tomassetti, La
epigrafe del tempio dei Castor-i (in Bull, com., 1890, p. 209). — Orazio Maruc-
chi, Guide du Forum. Rome, 1885, p. 119. — Notizie degli Scavi, 1896, p. 290.

BUILDINGS ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE FORUM.

XXXY. Between the edifice just described and the Basilica
Julia runs the Vicus Tuscus, or street of the Tuscans (XXIX in
plan), which led from the Forum to the Circus Maximus. The
origin of its name is variously explained by different authors, but
there is no doubt that it came from a colony of Tuscans who set-
tled in its vicinity, at the time either of Cseles Yibenna or of Por-
senna. The tradition on this point seems justified by the presence
of the shrine and statue of Vertumnus, at the entrance to the
street, whose worship woidd have been imported by the Etruscans,
as that of Semo Sancus had been imported on the Quirinal by the
Sabine colonists, bvtt the Etruscan origin of the god Vertumnus is
more than doubtful.

The street vied with the Sacra Yia in religious importance, being
the route followed by the great procession of the Ludi Romani,
in which the statues of the gods placed on thensce (four-wheeled
chariots) were carried from the Capitol to the Circus. It was also
a busy trade quarter. Horace calls these tradesmen Tusci turba
impia vici, and alludes to the street as the place to which the works
of unappreciated poets were carried, to wrap up parcels of spices
or perfumes.

XXXA^'I. Basilica Julia (XXX in plan), begun by Cgesar
about 54 B. c, on the site of the Tabernae Veteres, of the Basilica
Sempronia, and of the house of Scipio the African (?), and dedi-
cated in an unfinished state in the year 46, together with the
Forum Julium and the Temple of Venus Genetrix. Augustus
rebuilt and enlarged it after a fire, and opened it for public use in
the year 12, under the name of his grandsons Cains and Lucius.
It consists of a nave and four aisles divided by square pilasters of
travertine, once coated with marble. The fronts and sides were
built of solid marble, with half columns of the Doric order, pro-
jecting out of square pilasters. The half column which stands
alone and perfect on the side of tlie Sacra Via was reconstructed
by Rosa in* 1873 ; those on the side of the Vicus Jugarius are

274

A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

genuine, although in a ruined state. The Basilica was destroyed
by fire under Carinus and rebuilt by Diocletian, -who substituted
brick pilasters and arches for the old solid structure of travertine.
The mixture of the two styles and epqchs is satisfactorily illus-
trated by the following view, taken at the southwest corner of the
Basilica, by the Lacus Servilius. (Fig. 105.)

In March, 1883, a pedestal was found on the edge of the steps
descending to the Sacra Via, with the inscription : gabinivs • vet-

Fig. 105. — The Southwest Corner of the Basilica Julia.

Tivs • PROBiANVS * vir • clarissimus • PRjEFectus • vrb« • statvam

QV^ • BASILICA • IVLI.E ' A • SE • NOVITER • REPARAT^, • ORNA-

MENTO • ESSEX • ADiECiT. Probiauus was prefect of Rome a. d.
377, under Valens, Gratian, and Valentinian. He restored the
Basilica and enriched it with works of art and statues removed
from temples which were either closed or falling into ruin. Five
pedestals bearing his name have already been found. The origin
of the first is not known, but it was first noticed in the Santa-
croce Palace in the fifteenth century. The second was discovered
in 1554 near the Column of Phocas ; the third in 1655 by the

THE BASILICA JULIA 275

Senate-house ; the fourth in 18:35 on the steps of the Basilica
itself ; the fifth, a fragment, is kept at S. Clemente. We know
that three, at least, of these statues were the work of Polykletos,
of Timarchos, and of Praxiteles, these celebrated names being en-
graved on plinths discovered within or near the Basilica.

LiTERATUKE. — Gio. Battista de Rossi, Bull, com., 1893, p. 174. — Rodolfo
LaiK'iaiii, -S«<//. /ns<., 1871, p. 245. — Heinrich iorAsm, Ephemeris epiijraphim,
vol. iii. p. 277. — Eugene Petersen, Notizie degli Scavi, 1895, p. 495.

The question has been asked whether the Basilica was totally or
partially hypsethral, and in case it was not, whether it was vaulted
over or covered by a roof resting on trusses. The question was
rather complicated by a discovery I made in 1878. During the
inundation of that year, which brought the Tiber on a level with
the marble floor of the building, I noticed that, while the north-
east corner was just lapped by the still waters, the southeast was
fifteen centimetres above them, the southwest forty-five centi-
metares, the northwest thirty-seven centimetres. The floor of the
basilica, therefore, is slanting diagonally from the corner by the
Lacus Servilius to that by the Temple of Castor ; but this fact
does not imply that the place was hypa'thral, and that its pave-
ment could be rained upon. The floors of our churches of S. Saba
and of S. Maria in Aracoeli are equally inclined towards the front
door, perhaps to facilitate the washing of their mosaic floors. The
four aisles of the Basilica Julia were covered by a vaulted ceiling,
large masses of which, with stucco mouldings, were discovered in
1852, and destroyed in 1872 ; the nave was roofed over.

The Basilica Julia was the seat of the court of the centumviri,
who sometimes were divided into four sections, sometimes sat all
together when the case appeared to be of exceptional gravity.
Pliny the younger has left an account of the aspect of the Basilica
on the day of a great trial. The case was brought before the four
united sections of the covu't. Eighty judges sat on their benches,
while on either side of them stood the eminent lawyers who had to
conduct the prosecution and defend the accused. The great hall
could hardly contain the mass of spectators : the upper galleries
were occupied by men on one side, by women on the other, all
anxious to hear, which was very difficult, and "to see, which was
easier. Trajan presided over this court more than once.

The remains of the stairs leading to the upper galleries are yet
visible on the south side, together with the shops of bankers and
money-changers, known in epigraphic documents as the nummularii
de basilica Julia. (See Fig. 106.)

THE BASILICA JULIA 277

The Basilica Julia was partly christianized towards the end of
the sixth century, when one half of the outer aisle on the Vicus
Jugarius was dedicated to the mother of the Saviour (S. Maria
de Foro ; later, in Cannaparia). The remains of the church, dis-
covered partly in 1871, partly in 1881, were not treated well, so
that, of a neat edifice, with apse, nave, aisles, side and front door,
traces of fresco paintings, and considerable remains of the work
of Roman marmorarii of the eighth and ninth centuries, only
one column is left standing in situ. (See Mazzanti, in Archivio
storico dell' Arte, 1896, p. lU.)

In the Middle Ages and in more modern times the Basilica Julia
has been used first as a rope-walk, cannaparia, then as a workshop
for stone-cutters, and lastly as a cemetery for the hospital of la
Consolazione. (See p. 242.)

The earliest accounts of excavations date from 1496, when Adri-
ano di Corneto, the pope's collector of revenues in England, was
planning the construction of his beautiful palace (now Giraud-Tor-
lonia) in the Piazza di Scossacavalli, of which he made a present
to King Henry VII. in 1505. All the travertines used by Bramante
in the facjade of the palace came from the Basilica Julia.

The excavations were resumed in July, 1500, by Gregorio da
Bologna and Domenico da Castello, continued in 1511-12 by Gio-
vanni de' Pierleoni, and in 1514 by Jacopo de Margani. In the
time of Gregory XIII. a sitting statue of a Roman magistrate
was discovered, sold to Ferrante de Torres, and removed to Sicily.
Flaminio Vacca restored it to represent Julius Cjesar covering his
head at the sight of the murderer Brutus !

In 1742 the portion of the Basilica crossed by the Cloaca JVIaxima
was laid bare, with its pavement of giallo antico, a cartload of
which was sold to the stone-cutter de Blasii. The rest of the
pavement and many architectural pieces fell a prey to Chevalier
Fredenheim in November, 1788 (to March, 1789).

Its final discovery, begun in 1848, was completed in 1872. The
pavement of the aisles, of white marble, is covered with tabular
lusorise, gaming-tables of every description, about which consult,
among others, Becq de Fouquieres' " Les jeux des anciens ; " Fried-
laender's " Sittengeschichte," vol. i. p. 376 ; and Huelsen's " Mit-
theilungen," 1896, pp. 227-252.

Literature. — Theodor Mommsen, Res gestw divi Aurjusti, iv. 13, 15. —
Heinrich Jordan, Sylloge inscript. fori rom. (in Ephemeris epigr., 1877, pp.
275-283) ; and Forma urbis romce, pi. 3, n. 20-23. — Otto Gerhard, Sulla basilica
Giulia (in Effemeridi letterarie, 1824). — Oberlin, Expose d' tine decouverte de

278 A WALK THROUGH THE SACJRA VIA

M. le chev. Fredenheim. Strassburg, 1796. — Rodolfo Lanciani, Bull. Inst.,
1871, p. 6 ; and Bull, com., 1891, p. '229. — C. Liidovico Visconti, Jl rajiporto
sulla escavazione della basilica Giulia. Rome, 1872. — Angelo Pellegrini, Esca-
vasione della basilica Giulia (in Bull. Inst., 1871, pp. 225-23.3). — Thedenat (in
Daremberg and Saglio's Dictionnaire, p. 1303).

XXXVII. Vicus JuGARius (XXXI in plan), leading from the
Forum Romanum to the Forum Olitorium and the Porta Car-
mentalis, under the cliffs of the Capitoline, known as the Saxum
Carmentse. It corresponds to some extent to the modern streets
of la Consolazione and la Bufala. At the point where the Vicus
Jugarius touched the Basilica Julia there was a fountain, named
Lacus Servilius from the member of the Servilian family who had
built it. It acquired a ghastly notoriety during the civil wars as
the place where Sulla exposed the heads of the victims of his pro-
scriptions. Agrippa ornamented it with the figure of a hydra.
The site of the fountain has not yet been explored.

BUILDINGS ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE FORUM.

XXXVIII. The Rostra Vetera (XXXII in plan). — The
date of the erection of this renowned platform, from which magis-
trates and orators addressed the people, is not well determined ; it
must be placed, however, between 449 b. c, when the old Volkanal
is still described as the speaking platform of Appius Claudius, and
438, when the first mention of the new tribune occurs in Livy (iv.
17). In 338 C. Msenius ornamented it with the (six) beaks of the
war vessels captured at Antium, from which it took the name of
Rostra. It stood near the border line between the Comitium and
the Forum, so that the orators could be easily heard by the i:»atri-
cians and the plebeians at the same time. The orators, when speak-
ing, generally turned towards the Comitium and the Curia, until
C. Gracchus or Licinius Crassus introduced the habit of facing the
people assembled in the Forum. The proximity of the Rostra to
the Senate-house is proved by the fact that the leaders of the mob,
on the day of the funeral of Clodius, were chased from them by
the flames which were consuming the Curia. These topographic
references correspond exactly to the place, where the remains of a
platform, once ornamented with projecting bronze ornaments, and
dating from the fifth century b. c, have actually been found (see
Plan, p. 251). It has been the fashion among modern topographers
to believe in an alleged displacement of the Rostra from one place
to the other in the last years of C?esar's dictatorshii:). They seem
to forget that the Rostra, having been consecrated by the augurs,

THE ROSTRA VETERA 279

were, like the Curia, a tcmplum in the strictest sense of the word ;
so they are called by Livy (viii. 14) and by Cicero (In Vatin., x.
24). As the Curia itself never changed its position, so the Rostra
Vetera have never been removed from their old location, nur has
the relationship between the two temples been altered or broken.
The platform which we behold before us is the same venerable
nugyestum from which the warfare of centuries between aristocracy
and democracy was carried on in Republican times, and from
which Cicero pronounced two of his orations against Catiline.
Here the heads of Antony, of Octavius, of the victims of Marius
and Sulla were exposed, as well as the bodies of Sulla himself
and of Clodius ; and here also the laws of the twelve tables were
exposed to view.

I do not pretend to say that Julius Ca'sar did not interfei-e in
some way with the old Rostra ; he may have enlarged them, lined
them with new beaks, and repaired in a general way the damages
of the revolution of the Clodians, but he did not change their
position, lie set uj^ again the statues of Sulla and Pompey, which
had been removed after the battle of Pharsalus, and raised an
equestrian one to Octavian, then aged only nineteen. We hear
also of a magnificent bronze statue representing Hercules expii-ing
under the tunic of Nessus.

The head and the hands of Cicero were shown to the populace
from this very seat of his former triumphs. Orations on the death
of Ca'sar and of Augustus were also delivered from the Rostra.

LiTEKATUKE. — F. M. Nlchols, The Roman Forum, pp. 197-217. — Ibid.,
Notizie (hi Rostn. Rome, Spithoever, 1885. — Heiiirich Jordan, Sui rostri del
foro Cm Annal. lust., 1883, ji. 4!); and Moniimcnti delV Inst., vol. xi. pi. 49). —
'0(to Richter, Scavo ai rostri del foro (in Bull. Inst'., 1884, p. 113). — Tbid.,
Rfkongtriiltion iind Geschichte drr /viw /.■>•(•// ch Ri'dnerhilline. Berlin, Weid-
mann, 1884. — Ibid., Die romische Rednerbiiline (in .Tahrbuch, 1889, p. 1).

XXXIX. Three monuments connected with the Rostra deserve
notice : the Genius P(>j)itli liouiani. the J\Iilliariym Aureton, and the
fjmhilicus.

No trace exists of the first monument. It consisted of an fedicula
or shrine with a golden statue of the Genius, the gift of the Em-
peror Aurelian, before which sacrifices were offered on October 9.
The statue was still standing in its place at the end of the fourth
century, when some one scratched on the pavement of the Basilica
Julia the words —

GENIVS

POPVLI

ROM.\NI

280 A WALK THROUGH THE SACEA VIA

which seem to make the half of a " tabula lusoria " (three words
of six letters in three lines). The small circular shrine of the
Genius {tempietto di marmo di forma circulare) was discovered in
1539. The pedestal of the Genius of the Roman armies had already
been found in 1480.

Literature. — Theodor Mommsen, Corpus Inscr., vol. i., Commentarii
diurni, October 9 ; and Ueber der Chronograph vom Jahre 354, p. 648. —
Ludwig Urlichs, Codex U. R. topoc/raphicus, pp. 10, 11. — Heinrich Jordan,
Ephem. ejngr., 1876, p. 278, n. 40. — Ligorio, Cod. Neap., xxxiv. p. 145.

Milliarium Aureum (the golden milestone). — A column of gilt
bronze, on the surface of which were noted the distances from the
gates of Rome to the postal stations on each of the main roads
radiating from the metroj)olis. It was erected by Augustus in 29
B. c, as a record of the mensuratio totius orbis on which he and
Agrippa had for many yeai-s been engaged. Its position was dis-
covered in 1849-50, together with the x'emains of its exquisite
marble base. The principal historical interest of the Milliarium
arises from the meeting which Otho had here, a. d. 68, with the
handful of Praetorians who committed the double crime of mur-
dering Galba and of raising Otho to the Imperial throne.^

The Umbilicus Romcc, the round basement of which still exists
at the other end of the platform, near the Arch of Severus, belongs
to a much later period, probably to the age of Diocletian. It
corresponded to the 6fx(paK6s of Greek cities. Ancient documents
place it close to the Temple of Concord and to the church of SS.
Sergius and Bacchus. This last named edifice is so closely con-
nected with the topography of the west end of the Forum and of
the Clivns Capitolinus that, although its remains have long since
disappeared, it seems necessary to have it briefly described here.

XL. The Church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus was the
only one in this classic district which did not occupy the site of an
ancient building, but stood in its own ground. The " Liber ponti-
ficalis " mentions it for the first time in 731-741 at the time of
Gregoi-y III., who transformed into a church a small oratory
already existing in the Volkanal. Hadrian I. (772-795) enlarged

1 In his work Le Pinnte di Roma anteriori al secolo .rri., Commendatore de
Rossi has written some admirable pages on the Milliarium Aureum, and the
m.ensura totius orbis which it represents (eh. iv. pp. 25-34). Consult also
Luigi Canina, Sul valore dell' nntico piede romano, Rome, 1853 ; Heinrich
Jordan, Topor/raphie, vol. i2, p. 244; and Ann. Inst., 1883, p. 57; Rodolfo
Lanciani, Bull, com., 1892, p. 95.

THE CHURCH OF SS. SERGIUS AND BACCHUS 281

and improved the structure, and Innocent III. (1198-1216) added
the front portico facing the Rostra. The exact position of the
church appears from the following unpublished sketch by Martin
Heemskerk (Fig. 107). The three fluted Corinthian columns in
the foreground are those of the Temple of Vespasian. According
to Armellini (C'hiese, p. 538) the bell-tower stood on the attic
of the Arch of Severus ; but he evidently mistakes it for another
tower, having no connection with the church, which appears in du
Perac's third vignette on the opposite corner of the arch. I have
discovered in the report of the sitting of the city council of Sep-
tember 9, 1636, what was the end of this tower. This sitting
agreed '• that the tow'er
on the Arch of Septimius
be pulled down, and its
materials be given to the
church of Santa ^larti-
na, which is in com-se of
reconstruction."

Paul III. began demol-
ishing the church of SS.
Sergius and Bacchus on
the advent of Charles V.
(1536). Some of its
walls appear still in Do-
sio's twenty - first vig-
nette, dating from 1569 ;
the last traces of the
apse disappeared in 1812.

Between the Rostra and
the Sacra Via stood a
beautiful little building,
the so-called Schola Xan-
tha, or offices of the scri-
b(B librarii (book-keepers)
and pnecones (heralds) of the ^Ediles Curules. Its construction is
attributed by Henzen to C. Avillius Licinius Trosius, a contempo-
rary of Caracalla, and bj^ Huelsen to A. Fabius Xanthus and Be-
bryx Drusianus, who lived in the first century. These person-
ages are all mentioned in inscriptions discovered on the spot in
1539. (See Corpus, vi. 103.) From the words of these documents,
and from the account of the excavations left by Marliano and
Ligorio, we gather that the Schola was built of solid marble, and

Fig. lo;

- The Church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus,
sketched by Heemskerk.

282 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

consisted of three rooms at least, with a portico in front facing
the south ; and that Fabius Xanthus and his associates had deco-
rated it with bronze seats, a statue of the Victory, seven silver
statues of the gods, etc. The edifice and its inscriptions were
destroyed and the marbles turned into new shapes. I believe,
without being able to prove it, that the Schola Xantha formed
the west side of the Rostra, the otfice-room of the scribes being
under its lofty platform. The pedestal of the statue of Stilicho
(Corpus, 1730), which stood in 7-osti-is, was discovered at the same
time with the remains of the Schola.

LiTEKATUKE. — Christian Huelsen, II sitv e le iscrizloni della Schola Xan-
tha, iu Mittheilungen, 1888, p. 208.

XLI. The Arch of Tiberius stood at the foot of the Clivus
Capitolinus, where the Vicus Jugarius diverges from the Sacra
Via, between the northwest corner of the Basilica Julia and the
Milliarium. It was erected in 769 (16 a. d.) in memory of the
recovery by Germanicus of the eagles and flags which had been
lost with the legions of Varus in the battle of Teutoburg.

The name of Germanicus, so dear to the Romans, must have
saved the arch from destruction, after the death and the memo7'i(K
damnatia of Tiberius. According to Montiroli, many fragments
were discovered in 1848, with one or more pieces of the inscrip-
tion, in which the Elbe and the Rhine were alluded to, and the
recovery of the flags was mentioned. These pieces now lie scat-
tered all over the Forum.

Litp;katiti{e. — Olaus Kellermann, Bull. Inst., IS^b, p. 36. — Giovanni
Montiroli, Ilforo romano. Rome, 1852. — Theodor Mommsen, Re.< i/esto' divi
Auf/vsti, ed. 1883, p. 127. — Heinrich Jordan, Ephemerm epijjr., 1887, p. 262.

XLII. The Arch of Septimius Severus (XXXIII in plan)
was dedicated to him and to his sons Caracalla and Geta, a. d.
203, in recognition of the benefits they had conferred on the com-
monwealth by reforming the administration and extending the
boundaries of the Empire. After the murder of Geta, a. d. 212,
his name was suppressed in the inscriptions on either face of the
attic ; but the holes left in the marble by the clami^s of the ori-
ginal bronze letters give us the means of reconstructing the original
text ; it contained the words (lin. 3) et (lin. 4) Getce nohilissbno
ccesari, which were substituted by the acclamation optimis fortissi-
misque jmncipibus, addressed to Severus and Caracalla alone.

The arch has three passages connected by a transverse one.
There are four columns of the composite order on each front, on

THE ARCH OF SEPT IM I US SEVER US

283

the pedestals of which are carved groups of prisoners of war. (See
Fig. 108.) On the spandriLs of the side archways are figures of
River Gods, on those of the middle passage Victories with tro-
phies. The panels above the side arches are covered with bas-
reliefs illustrating the campaigns of Severus in the East. The
small door on the south side leads to a set of rooms in the attic,
some of which have no light.

The arch was erected on the edge of the platform ( Volkanal —
area CoTiconlicr), which, being six or seven feet higher than the
level of the Forum and of the Comitium, was accessible only by
means of steps. The roughly paved road going through the cen-

Fig. 108. — Pedestals of Columns, Arch of Severus.

tral arch dates from the fall of the Empire. Among the materials
of which it was built, Fea discovered in 1803 a pedestal of an
Imperial statue and pieces of a monumental column. No part of
the Forum has been more fi*equently and more successfully ex-
cavated than the neighborhood of this arch. On June 22, 1480,
the pedestal of the Genius of Roman armies was tound apud

284

A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

arcum. In August, 1539, the pedestals of two statues of Stili-
cho were discovered ; in 1547-49 many pedestals were unearthed
coniinemorating the peace restored to the world by the Flavian
Emperors, — the victory of the Emperor Julius Constantius over
Magnentius, a. d. 353, the feats of Flavins Valerius Constantius
Caesar, etc. ; and in 1549 the pedestals of the equestrian statues of
Arcadius and Ilonorius. In 1774, another pedestal of a statue
of Diocletian was foiind; and in 1803 another, dedicated, a. d. 357,
to Jnlius Constantius by Oriitus, prefect of the city, the latter
being probably in commemoration of the raising of the great
obelisk of the Circus jNlaximus (now in the Lateran). These
historical documents are marked Nos. 196-200, 234, 1119, 1132,
1158, 1161, 1162, 1174, 1187, 1203, 1204, 1205, 1730, 1731, in vol,
vi. of the " Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum."

Fig. 109. — A Fruiterer's Shop under the Arch of Severus.

Nos. 197, 199, 234, 1132, 1174, 1204 have perished. No. 1730 is
to be found in the Palazzo Capranica della Valle ; No. 1731 in
the Villa Medici ; Nos. 196, 198, 200, in the Museo Nazionale at
Naples. No. 1158 was removed to the Farnese gardens, and
brought back in 1875, together with No. 1203. Fragments of No.
1187 are dispersed all over the Fornm. No. 1119 is kejit in the
Vatican Museum with No. 1161. No. 1162 is broken in three
pieces : the first is missing, the second is to be found in the Vati-
can, the third near the Arch of Severns !

S. PETER'S PRISON 285

Many pages could be wi'itten on the history and on the fate of
this noble monument in recent times. One incident shall answer
for all. The arch, being the property of the S. P. Q. R., was put
to ransom in this way. The two side passages were walled in at
each end, and turned into shops. I have found in the city archives
two leases, one dated May 1, 1721, by which one of the dens is
rented to Bonaventura Rosa for four scudi and eighty baiocchi a
year ; the other dated January 30, 1751, by which both are given
up to Battista Franchi for seven scudi and twenty baiocchi. The
last occupant, in 1803, was a fruiterer. This odd state of things
is represented in the above original sketch by Gianni, made about
1800 (Fig. 109).

Literature. — Suarez, Arcus L. Septiniii Severi anaglypha. Rome, 1676.
— Antonio Guattani, Roma antica, vol. i. p. 71. — Corpus Jnscr., vol. vl. n. 103;j.

XLIII. The Carcer Tulliaxum (S. Peter's Prison) (XXXIV
in plan), is mentioned by Livy as having been built by Ancus
Marcius in a place near and a little liigher than the Forum : carcer
imminens foro. It contained an underground cell, formerly a cave
named Tullianum, from a tullus or jet of water which sprang
from the rock. It was used as a place of execution, and Sallust
depicts it as a dark, filthy, and frightful den, twelve feet under-
ground, walled in and covered with massive stone walls. The
fa9ade is very severe in style, and has an inscription commemo-
rating the repair's to the prison, made at the time of Tiberius by
C. Vibius Rufinus and M. Cocceius Nerva. (See Corpus Inscr.,
vol. vi. n. 1.539.) Nichols justly remarks that "the Carcer plays
a part in Roman history like that of the Tower of London in
English. The TuUianum was, if one may say so, a Secret Tower
Hill. One of the first heroes of the long tale of miseries is Plemi-
nius, who, being detained in prison for his excesses at Locri, was
convicted of bribing men to set fire to the city, lowered into the
Tullianum, and executed. The same fate befell Lentulus, Ceth-
egus, and several other conspirators during the Catilinarian trou-
bles. Cicero, who played such a leading part in them, speaks of
the Carcer as having been ordained by the kings as the avenger
of heinous and notorious crimes. The jail is also associated with
the name of King Jugurtha, starved to death in the lower hole.
The body of Seianus, the disgraced minister of Tiberius, was cast
on the Scalse Gemoniae (steps adjoining the prison), and also those
of his innocent children, whose execution was marked by circum-
stances of fria;htful atrocitv. Here also the headless trunk of

286 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VTA

Flavins Sabinus, brother of Vespasian, was thrown by the soldiers
of Vitelliiis, and soon after Vitellius himself met his end on the
same spot. The Career," Nichols concludes, "like the Tower,
had also its literary reminiscences. Nsevius is said to have writ-
ten two of his plays while confined in prison for his attacks on
the aristocracy." ^

The bibliography on the Career is given by Cancellieri, " Notizie
del Carcere TuUiano." Rome, 1788, pp. 6, 7.

XLIV. tEdes Concordia: ('Ojuoroeroj/, Temple of Concord),
(XXXV in plan). — The approval of the Licinian laws in 367
15. c. was a great event in the history of the Republic, because
tlie alliance between patricians and plebeians, by restoring peace
and tranquillity at home, allowed the government to turn its at-
tention to foreign affairs. The laws, however, did not pass with-
out a struggle. During a particulai'ly violent fight in the Forum,
C'amillus promised to erect a temple to Concord, as soon as peace
should be restored ; and he kept his word in 367. The temple,
a simple and graceful structure of stone, wood, and painted terra-
cotta, was raised at the foot of the Clivus Capitolinus, between
the Temple of Saturn and the prison. In b. c. 121, after the
death of C. Gracchus, the Senate commissioned L. Opimius with
the reconstruction of the temple, to the great distress of the ple-
beians, who could not tolerate the idea that a monument com-
memorating a popular victory should be made to represent the
triumph of aristocracy, and so the original inscription was
changed one night into the words : " Discord raises this temple to
Concord." The edifice, scanty fragments of which have come
down to as, dates from a. d. 10, when Tiberius reconstructed it
for the second time, and dedicated it on January 16 under the
title of Concordia Augusta. Designed and executed by the clever-
est masters of the golden age, entirely built of white marble, pro-
fusely enriched with masterpieces of the Greek school, the Temple
of Concord was one of the finest monuments in the valley of the
Forum, and one of the richest museums of Rome. The cella con-
tained one central and ten side niches, in which were placed the
Apollo and Hera by Baton; Latona nursing Apollo and Diana
by Euphranor; Asklepios and Hygieia by Nikeratos; Ares and

1 On the connection of this historical monument with S. Peter, consult Der
mamc'7-tinische Kerker u. die romischen Traditionen vom Gefdngnhse und den
Ketten Petri, an excellent paper published by H. Grisar, S. J., in the Zeit-
schriftfiir kath. Theologie, 1896, p. 102.

THE TEMPLE OF CONCORD 287

Hermes by Piston ; and Zeus, Athena, and Demeter by Sthenics.
Pliny speaks also of a picture by Theodores representing Cassan-
dra; of another by Zeuxis which portrayed Marsyas bound to the
tree ; of a third, Bacchus, by Nikias ; of four elephants cut in
obsidian, a miracle of skill and labor; and of a collection of
precious stones. Among these was the sardonyx set in the
legendary ring of Polykrates of Sanios. I may mention in the
last place the statue of Ilestia, which Tiberius had taken away
almost by force from the inhabitants of Paros.

Like that of Castor, the Temple of Concord played an im-
portant i^art in Roman political life, and was used very often by
the Senate as a meeting-place on extraordinary occasions. Cicero
delivered in it his fourth oration against Catiline, denouncing the
conspiracy and the names of those concerned in it. Other meet-
ings are recorded in Imperial times, under Severus, Alexander,
and Probus. The open space in front of the temple, originally
called Volkanal, and later on Area Concordia;, is mentioned sev-
eral times in connection with the " showers of blood." These
were rain mixed with reddish sand from the deserts of Libya, a
phenomenon by no means uncommon in Rome, for T have myself
observed it on three occasions.

The fate of the building after the barbaric invasions is not
known. The Anonyinus of Einsiedlen saw (?) it almost perfect
in the eighth century, and copied the inscription of the pronaos,
which alludes to the restoration made by the S. P. Q. R. after the
fire of Carinus. (See Corpus Inscr., vol. vi. n. 89 and 938.) The
" Liber Pontificalis " speaks of it as threatening to collapse at
the time of Hadrian I. (772-795). When Poggio Bracciolini
visited Rome the first time about 1405, the portico was still stand-
ing, but he saw it himself, soon after, fall to the ground, and its
beautiful marbles were broken and thrown into the lime-kiln.

The excavations of the site of the temple began on May 2, 1817.
The fragments of decorative marbles found within the cella are
described by contemporary witnesses as '*the most delicate, the
most perfect productions of ancient art." These fragments are
exhibited in the portico of the Tabularium, where dampness and
saltpetre corrode their surface, and will soon reduce them to dust ;
two bases of the side shrines are in the ground floor of the Museo
Capitolino ; two capitals, with lambs in the place of volutes, are
in the Palazzo dei Conservatory Nibby says that at the time of
the discovei-y half the pavement was perfect ; but its slabs of
africano, giallo, and pavonazzetto were afterward stolen one by one

288 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

by stone-cutters, and probably made into paper-weights and other
such marketable articles. The threshold of the cella, one of the
few pieces left on the spot, has the mark of the caduceus engraved
near the left end.

Literature. — Co?y)Ms Inscr., vol. vi. n. 89-94. — Ulrichs, Codex topogr.,
pp. 220, 238. — Stefano Piale, Degli antichi templl di Vespasiano e della Con-
cordia. Rome, (1818) 1834. — Carlo Fea, Varieta di Notizie, pp. 93-95.

XLV. The Clivus Capitolinus (XXXVI in plan). — The
end of the Sacra Via which ascended the eastern slope of the Cap-
itoline hill in zigzags was called the Clivus Capitolinus. Its pave-
ment has been laid bare in the lower tract before and between the
temples of Vespasian, of Saturn, and the Porticus Deorum Con-
sentium, as represented in the illustration (Fig. 119) ; but its upper
course is as yet a matter of speculation. It probably rounded the
Porticus Consentium and emerged on the Area Capitolina, skirt-
ing the south side of the Tabularium, as marked (XXXVI) in
the plan.

At the foot of the pronaos of Saturn are the only existing re-
mains of a Roman street pavement of classic times. They owe
their preservation to the fact of having been covered by the steps of
the temple in one of the later reconstructions. The reader hardly
needs to be reminded that all the otlier pavements that go by the
name of " ancient streets " are a patchwork of the fifth and sixth
centuries after Christ.

XLVI. Temple of Vespasian (XXXVII in plan ; Figs. 106
and 110), erected under Doniitian in memory of his deified father
(and brother). — There is no doubt that the three columns, stand-
ing on a lofty platform between the Temple of Concord and the
Porticus Consentium, belong to this temple, because the dedicatory
inscription, copied by the so-called Anonymus of Einsiedlen when
still intact, ends precisely with the eight letters estitver which
we see engraved in the existing fragment.

diro • uespasiano • augusto • s • p • q • r
impp • ccess • seuerus • et ■ antoninus • pit • felic • augg • rESTiTVER

Of this very elegant edifice only the platform, the altar, and the
three corner columns of the pronaos are left standing. The frieze
is decorated with the instruments of sacrifice — the " albogalerus,"
the " aspergillus," the " urceus," the knife, the " patera," the axe
— in bold relief and in the purest style of art (Fig. 111). The
cornice is remarkable for the tiny rings interposed to the dentels ;

THE TEMPLE OF VESPASIAN

289

it is a characteristic of ornamental work of the time of Domitian,
which occurs also in the cornices of the Flavian Palace, of the
Forum Transitorium, of the Albanum, of the Serapaeum, of the
Horti Largiaui — buildings erected or restored by the same Em-
peror.

290

A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

When the excavations of the Clivus Capitolinus were begun in
1810, it was observed not only that the three coUimns were falling
out of the perpendicular by over two feet in the direction of the

THE TEMPLE OF SATURN 291

Foi'um, but that their foundations liad been uprooted in the ex-
cavations of the cinquecento. The ai'chitects Valadier and Campo-
rese, after measuring and sketching the ruin stone by stone, took
it down, rebuilt the foundations, and set it up straight again. The
accumulation of rubbish, which reached nearly to the top of the
shafts, was then removed, and the expectant public could see out-
lined against the sky those capitals and that frieze which, only a
few months before, had been trodden by the feet of tourists. This
clever operation is described in Tournon's '• Etudes statistiques sur
Kome," vol. ii. p. 266, pi. 21.

On the opposite side of the sti'eet stands a nearly perfect Ionic
hexastyle portico, which topographers agree in attributing to the

XLVII. .EuKS Satukxi (Temple of Saturn) (XXXVIII
in plan ; Fig. 110). — According to an old h-adition the Greek
followers of Hercules had raised an altar to Saturn in the " jaws,"
or " at the foot " of the hill which bore his name (Collis Satur-
nius), and which was inhabited, even before the Trojan war, by a
colony of men called Saturnii. The tradition was founded on the
fact that, in much later times, sacrifices were offered to the god in
the Greek rite, the worshipers being allowed to keep their heads
unveiled. A temple was substituted for the altar in 497 b. c.,
and dedicated on the day of the Saturnalia, December 17. Lucius
Munatius Plancus rebuilt it at the request of his friend Augustus
in 42 B. c, the money being taken from the spoils of the Rhaetic
war.

The fire of Carinus must have damaged the structure, as shown
by the inscription sexatvs popvlvsqve romanvs incendio cox-
SVMPTVM RESTiTviT eugraved on the architrave of the pronaos,
and by the patchwork style of the pronaos itself, w^hich betrays
an utter decadence of taste and a great poverty of means. The
columns on the front are of gray granite, those at the sides of
red, and made up of several pieces ; some of the bases are Attic,
others Corinthian, and without plinth. It has been asked why
the name of the S. P. Q. R. should appear on the architrave of
the temple instead of the name of an Emperor. The reason is
evident : the temjile was rebuilt in the fourth century, when Chris-
tianity had become, if not the religion of the State, certainly the
personal religion of the Emperors ; and it would not have become
a Christian Emperor to see his name associated with the restora-
tion of heathen temples. I believe, moreover, that the restoration
by the S. P. Q. R. was undertaken not from a religious point of

292 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

view, but as a necessity of public administration, because the
temple had been used, since the time of Valerius Publicola, as
the civil treasury — ^rarium Saturni, — as that of the temple of
Concord was used for military purposes. The ^rarium Saturni
was divided into two sections : one for current business, one as
a reserve fund (iErarium sanctius). Appeal was made to this
last in 211 during the second Punic war, and again in 49 b. c, on
the approach of Julius Csesar to Rome. There were correspond-
ing strong rooms under the cella, but no attempt has ever been
made to discover them. The vErarium contained also the archives
of the quaestors, in which, among other records, the sentences of
death were deposited.

A small square opened behind the temple, called Area Satvirni.
It contained a celebrated altar, raised to Ops and Ceres on August
10, A. D. 7, while the peninsula was suffering from a famine of un-
precedented severity.

The lofty platform on which the temple stands was reached
from the Clivus Capitolinus l)y means of a long flight of stairs,
designed in fragment iii. 22, 23 of the marble plan of Rome.

Literature. — Theodor Mommsen, Res gestce, 2d ed. iv. 12, 13. — F. M.
Nichols, The Roman Forum, p. 23. — H. Jordan, Ephemeris epigraphica, vol.
iii. p. 55. — Orazio Marucchi, Le. forum romani, p. 139.— Thedenat, in Darem-
berg and Saglio's Dictionnaire, p. 1285.

XL VIII. PoRTicus Deorum Consentium (Portico of the
Twelve Gods) (XXXIX in plan; Fig. 112). — At the highest
point of the ascent, and under the southeast corner of the Tabu-
larium, there is a line of cells built partly against the cliff, partly
against the retaining wall of the Clivus, the front of which is
decorated with a portico of the Corinthian order. It was rebuilt
in A. D. 367 by Vettius Agorius Praetextatus, on the site of a much
earlier shrine of the twelve deities, whose gilded images, six of
gods and six of goddesses, are mentioned by Varro as existing in
the Forum at a very remote age. The inscription on the archi-
trave discovered in the excavations of 1834 and the remains of
the colonnade were set up in 1853 by Canina. " Agorius Prsetex-
tatus is known as one of the most obstinate upholders of pagan-
ism, already dying out. He persecuted the Christians whenever he
could do so without incurring the penalties of law ; restored the
abandoned and half-ruined temples ; and, when Pope Damasus re-
monstrated with him for his cruel and illegal behavior, answered,
' Make me Bishop of Rome and I shall at once become a good
Christian.' "

THE TABU LABIUM 293

Remains of his gardens on the Esquiline were discovered in
1873-74 near the Piazza Manfredo Fanti. The palace connected
with the gardens had already been discovered in 1591 in the
grounds of Federigo Cesi, near the Arch of Gallienus. It con-

Fig. 112. —The Porticus Consentium.

tained, like the gardens, a valuable set of works of art, among
which was the statue of Coelia Concordia, a Vestalis Maxima, so
perfectly preserved that even the insignia of her order, of gilded
metal, remained fastened around her neck.

Literature. — Olaus Kellerniann, in Bull. Inst., 1835, p. 34. — Luigi
Grid, At ti accad. jwntif. archeoL, vol. xiv. p. 118. — Adolf Becker, Topo-
graphie, p. 318. — Rodolfo Lanciaiii, Bull, com., 1874, p. 83; and Ancient
Rome, p. 169. — Corpus Inscr., vol. vi. n. 102.

XLIX. Tabularium (XL in plan). — This is an immense and
well-preserved building, on the slope of the Capitoline facing
the Forum, destined for the safe keeping of the deeds of public
interest, among which were the decrees of the Senate from the
earliest days of the Kings, the plebiscites, the treaties of peace
and alliance, and so forth. Bunsen calls the Tabularium "le
seul edifice grand qui nous reste de la Republique, le seul edifice
d'Etat de la Rome ancienne;" Emil Braun, likewise, "a grand
edifice, one of the most considerable of the brightest epoch of the

294 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

Republic, . . . which desei'ves our fullest admiration ; " and yet it
is one of the least visited monuments in Rome.

The Tabularium is probably the work of Q. Lutatius Catulus,
to whom the task of rebuilding the Capitol after the fire of 88 b. c.
had been intrusted by a decree of the Senate in 78 b. c. There
are two inscriptions commemorating his work : one seen by Poggio
Bracciolini about 1530, which expressly mentions svhstrvctionem
ct tahvlarivm ; the other discovered by Canina in 1845, which has
been set into the wall of the Tabularium itself on the north side.
This last contains only the general expression de sK^atus sKtirenlia
FACiVNDvm (tabularium?) coeravit. (See Corpus Inscr., vol. i. p.
170, n. 391, 392.)

The area of the building corresponds almost exactly with that
of the Palazzo del Senatore, the official residence of the Roman
municipal administration. The walls of the palace rest on the
ancient ones on the north, east, and south sides, as any one can
see; but I have discovered a document which proves tliat the
west side, viz., the fa(,'ade of the palace towards the Piazza del
Campidogiio, is likewise built upon ancient foundations. In p.
88 of the Bodleian MSS. Pirro Ligorio asserts that a beautiful
" basamento di sasso tiburtiuo di bella e vaga modanatura " runs
under the pedestals of the two River Gods on either side of the
fountain, and gives a good outline of it. He also tells the follow-
ing remarkable story about the fate of the two River Gods. They
had formed part of the mediseval museum of statuary on the
Piazza di Montecavallo, which comprised the two colossal groups
of Castor and Pollux, two statues of Constantine, one of Cybele,
and the two reclining figures of the Nile and the Tigris, known
by the name of Saturn and Bacchus.^ When the River Gods
were removed to the Capitol for the decoration of the Palazzo
del Senatore, an influential person (tin malo consigliere) suggested
that the Tigris should be transformed into a Tiber. The sug-
gestion was adopted ; the head of the tiger was changed into that
of a wolf, and the two sucking infants were added to the group.
Ligorio says that the fingers of the right hand of one of the twins
were originally part of the hair of the tiger.

LiTEKATURE. — Giovaniii Aziirri, Descrlzione delV areata dorica dell' an-
tico Tabulario. Rome, 1839. — Beschreibung d. Stadt Rom, vol. iii. p. 40. —
Luigi Canina, Monumenti dell' Istituto, vol. v. pi. 31. — Charles Bunsen,
Les forums, p. 286. — Emil Braun, Ruins and Museums, p. 14. — Theodor

1 See Michaelis, Le antichita della citta di Roma, descritte da Nicolao
Muffel, in Mittheil., 1888, p. 271, n. 23, 24.

THE TABULARIU.U 295

Momm>eii, Annul. Inst., 1858, p. 211; and Bull, hist., IS-l.'), p. 119, — Heiurkh
Jordan, // tabulario capiloUno (in Aunal. Inst., 1881, p. 60).

The Tabularium com2:)rises a substructure built of gabinian
stone, an underground tloor, wliich luis long been used for a city
jail, and an upper portico of the Doric order, with many halls,
passages, corridors, and staircases, all in perfect preservation. The
halls were used, as has been said, for state documents, engraved
on bronze tablets, '' tabulae seneaj," from which the building was

Fig. li;;. — OM (iatc of Tabularium blocked l.y T.-mpl.- of W-spasian.

named. Three thousand tablets, called by Suetonius " instru-
mentum im])erii pulcherrimum ac vetustissimum," perished in the
fire of Yitellius. Vespasian restored the set by means of dupli-
cates kept in other archives.

296 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

The Tabularium was accessible directly from the Clivus Capito-
liiiLis and from the iErarium Saturui, by means of a staircase of
sixty-seven steps, the preservation of which is truly wonderful.
The entrance to it was blocked at the time of Domitian, in conse-
quence of the erection of the Temple of Vespasian, as shown in
Fig. 113.

Nibby asserts that the many fragments of columns and capitals
of travertine (of the Corinthian order) discovered at the foot of
the substructure, and now piled up in front of the Portico of tlie
Consentes, belong to a second or upper arcade of the Tabularium.
His opinion is corroborated by documents of the time of Anacletus
11. and Innocent III., which mention two Camellarige, the lower
and the upper, " Camellaria " being then the denomination of the
Tabularium ; and by Poggio Bracciolini, who saw in it fornices
(luplici ordine, a double tier of arcades.

L. Capitolium (Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus) (XLI
in plan). — This national sanctuary of ancient Rome, designed by
the elder Tarquin and built by his son Superbus, was dedicated
by M. Hoi'atius Pulvillus, consul, on September 13, 509 b. c.
Writers describe it as raised on a platform 61.62 metres long,
and 57.17 wide, in the middle of a sacred area, which was bounded
on three sides by precipitous cliffs. There were three rows of
columns on the front of the temple, but none at the back; the
style of architecture was pure Etruscan, low and heavy, with
intercolumniation so wide (areostyle) as to require the use of
wooden architraves. The • cella was divided into three compart-
ments, the middle one sacred to Jupiter, the one on the left to
Juno Kegina, the one on the right to Minerva. The pediment
was crowned by a quadriga of terra-cotta, in the manner of an
acroterium ; and the statue of the Father of the Gods was of the
same material. It was the w^ork of Turianus of Fregena), who
had painted the face of the god in vermilion, and dressed his
body with the tunica palmata and the toga picta. Considering
that the wooden architraves must have been covered likewise with
panels of painted terra cotta, the roof lined with antefixse, etc.,
we may assume that the old Capitolium did not differ from the
contemporary temples of southern Etruria, a splendid specimen
of which, discovered at Faleria, is now exhibited in the Villa
Giulia outside the Porta del Popolo.

In 386 B. c. the rugged and uneven surface of the hill around
the temple was made level by means of gigantic substructures,

THE CAPITOLIUM 297

which rose from the level of the plain to that of the temple itself,
a work called " insane " by Pliny, and classed by Livy among the
wonders of Rome. The Capitolium was only accessible from the
side of the clivus by means of stately stairs, a kind of "scala
santa," which Csesar and Claudius ascended on their knees.

On July 6, 83 b. c, a malefactor, whose name was never dis-
covered, set the buUding ablaze. Sulla undertook its reconstruc-
tion, for which purpose he laid his hands on some of the columns
of the Temple of Jupiter the Olympian at Athens. Sulla's work
was continued by Lutatius Catulus (the builder of the Tabula-
rium), and finished by Julius C«sar in 46. A second restoration
took place in the year 9 b. c. under Augustus, a third in 74 a. d.
under Vespasian, and the last in the year 82 under Domitian.
Domitian's temple was of the same length and width as its pre-
decessors, but higher and more svelte. It had Corinthian columns
of pentelic marble.

For many generations topographers have discussed which of the
two summits of the Capitoline hill was occupied by the temple,
which by the citadel. A discovery made on Kovember 7, 1875,
gave me the first clue to the solution of the difficulty. While
building the foundations of the new rotunda in the garden of the
Palazzo dei Conservatori (where the works of art dug up on the
Esquiline are now exhiliited), we discovered the edge of the plat-
form built by the Tarquins, and upon it a fragment of one of the
columns of pentelic marble pertaining to the last restoration of
Domitian. Such a find, taken by itself, would not have been con-
clusive ; but compared with others made in the course of the last
four centuries, it proves beyond doubt that the Capitolium stood
ou the summit of ]Monte Caprino, and consequently that the Arx
and the Tarpeian rock must be placed on the Aracceli side.

First as to the insame substriirtiones which supported the sacred
area. They have been seen and described by Flaminio Vacca on
the side of the Piazza della Consolazione, by Sante Bartoli on the
side of the Piazza ]Montanara, by Ficoroni on the side of the Via
di Torre de' Specchi. their thickness exceeding five metres. The
travertine facing of these walls w^as covered with inscriptions and
dedications in honor of the great Roman god by the kings and the
nations of the world. One cannot read these historical documents,
these messages of friendship and gratitude from the remotest corner
of the earth, without acqiiiring a new sense of the magnitude and
power of Rome.i These dedications are found only on the side of
the Moute Caprino.

1 See Bull, com., 1886, p. 403 ; 1887, pp. 14, 124, 251 ; 1888, p. 138 ; 1890, p. 57. —

298 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

The platform of the Tarquins, built of small grayish blocks of
tufa lamellare, without cement, exists still in tolerable preserva-
tion under the garden and palace (Caft'arelli) of the German Em-
bassy. A sketch in Fabretti's ''De Columna traiana" shows tliat
when the Caffarellis enlarged their palace on the Monte Caprino,
about 1680, fourteen tiers of stone at least were removed. The
following illustration shows the only portion now left visible of
this great platform (Fig. ll-l). It lies under the partition wall be-
tween the Caffarelli garden and that of the Palazzo dei Conser-
vatory

Borings made all over the Monte Caprino in 1876 by Jordan

H^Lhl, ~ il ': > ,4f??^

P^Ql^^^

f "^ \t^^ ""^ i!

BJJhjl^^^ , .;^^^^

^■^^^

^^^^^HHIkMik. .

, ,., .. i

Fig. 114. — Remains of the Platform of the Capitolium in the Garden of the Caffarelli

Palace.

and Schuj^mann have enabled us to trace three out of four sides
of the parallelogram, as well as the size and direction of one of
the favissce.

The temple rebuilt \i\ Domitian was plundered in June, 4.55, by
the Vandals of Genseric, who carried off the statues to adorn his

Momm.«en, Zeitschrift fur Numismatik, xv. p. 207. — Corpus Inscrip., vol. i.
p. 169.

THE CAPITOLIUM 299

African residence. Froni that time the temple, stripped of its
roof of gilt bronze tiles, fell into ruin, and became, like so many
others, a stone quarry and a lime-kiln. In January, 1545, Giovan
Pietro Caffarelli discovered the first relics in the garden behind
the Palazzo dei Conservatori. Some of the pieces were sketched
and measured by Antonio da Sangallo the younger, and the whole
find is described as follows by Flaminio Yacca : " Upon the Tar-
peian rock (Monte Caprino) several pillars of peutelic marble were
found, with capitals of such size that I was able to carve out of
one of them the great lion now in the garden of Grand Duke
Ferdinand of Tuscany by the Trinita de' Monti (Villa Medici).
The rest of the marbles were used by Vincenzo de Rossi to carve
the Prophets and other statues of the chapel of Cardinal Federico
Cesi at S. ^Slaria della Pace. ... No fragments of the entablature
were found, but as the building was so close to the edge of the
precipice, I fancy they must have fallen into the plain below."
The surmise was proved correct by subsequent discoveries. In
1780 great pieces of cornice and frieze, ornamented with bucranii
and festoons, were dug up from the foundations of the house
Xo. 13 Via ]Montanara at the foot of the rock ; other fragments in
May, 1875, under the house Xo. 83 Via della Consolazione. The
dedications by foreign kings and nations, mentioned above, have
also rolled down the hill towards the Piazza della Consolazione,
where they were discovered in 1887 under the Casa Moroni. An-
other piece of a fluted column of pentelic marble was discovered
on January 24, 1889, on the slope towards the TuUianum (S. Pietro
in Carcere), where it had been dragged and abandoned by a cinque-
ceiito stone-cutter.

A careful examination made in 1S75 by the late Padre Luigi
Bruzza proves that the statues of the Cappella Cesi are really sculp-
tured in pentelic, and so is Flaminio Vacca's lion, in the Villa Me-
dici. The piece of a column discovered in Xovember, 1875, is to be
seen in the small garden of the Palazzo dei Conservatori ; the one
discovered in January, 1889. in the Via di S. Pietro in Carcere has
been buried over in the same place. The platform of the temple
discovered in 1865 in the garden of the German Embassy (Caffa-
relli) was buried in 1880 by Baron von Keudell. The dedicatory
inscriptions found in the Piazza della Consolazione, instead of
being replaced on the Capitol, to which they had been offered by
the discoverer, have found their way to the Museo delle Terme ;
those found in the sixteenth century (Corpus Inscr. Lat., vol. i. p.
169, n. 589) have perished.

300 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VTA

Literature. — Corpus Inscr., vol. i. p. 170; and vol. vi. n. 372-374. —
Rycq, Be Capitolio romano. Leyden, 1669. — Bunsen, Beschreibung d. Stadt
Rom, vol. iii% p. 14. — Hirt, Der capitoliniscke Jtipitertempel (in Abhandl. d.
Berlinei" Akademie, 1813). — Bureau de la Malle, Memoire sur la position de la
roche tarpeienne (in Mem. Academie Inscriptions, 1819). — R. Lanciani, //
tempio di Giove ottimo massimo (in Bull, com., 1875, p. 165, pis. 16-18) ; and
Pagan and Christian Rome, p. 84. — I'ietro Rosa, Annali Instituto, 1865, p. 382.
— H.Jordan, Osservazioni sul tempio di Giove Capitolino (in Annali Instit.,
1876, p. 145) ; and TopograpMe, vol. i^, p. 67. — Fabio Gori, Archivio storico
letterario della citta eprovincia di Roma, vol. i. 1875, pp. 285-334. — Christian
Huelsen, Osservazioni suW architettura del teinpio di Giove Cajntolino (in
Mittheilungen, 1888, p. 150, pi. 5). — Audollent, Bessein inedit d^un fronton du
temple de Jupiter Capilolin (in Melanges de I'Ecole frau9aise de Rome, 1889,
]>. 120, planche 2).

LI. FoKUM JuLiuM. — In spite of the construction of so many
temples and basilicae on the borders of the Forum, by wliicli the
space accessible to the public had been more than doubled, the
Forum itself, dating from the early days of the city, had become
absolutely insufficient for the wants of a population which was
fast approaching a million. The first step towards the improve-
ment of this state of things was taken by Julius Csesar in 54 b. c.
He seems to have planned the creation of a new forum while
absent from Italy ; stimulated perhaps by the example of L.
^milius PauUus, who had purchased the site of his basilica
(Emilia) at a cost of 1500 talents, or 12,000,000 lire. Equally
large was the sum spent by Cajsar in securing a space for his
" extension." At the date of Cicero's letter (iv. 16) to Atticus,
some 60,000,000 sesterces had already been expended. The total
cost of ground, without including the new buildings, is said to
have exceeded 100,000,000 sesterces, or about 20,000,000 lire, a
sum obviously exaggerated, and which has been reduced by careful
calculations to 1,343,750 lire (about 168 lire the square metre).
The Forum Julium took the shape of a sacred inclosure around
the temple dedicated by the dictator 45 b. c. to Venus Genetrix,
the goddess from whom he professed to descend. Her statue was
a masterpiece by Arkesilaos, and a masterj^iece also was the statue
of the famous charger, which had been foaled in the mews of the
Julian house, and whose fore feet were nearly human, the hoofs
being split, as it were, into toes. Ajipianus speaks of a statue of
Cleopatra by the side of that of the goddess ; Ovid of a fountain
adorned with figures of nymphs called Appiades ; and Pliny of
famous paintings by Greek artists, of six collections of engraved
gems, and of a breastplate for the goddess covered with British
pearls.

THE FORUM JULIUM

301

The beautiful temple was discovered at the time of Palladio
in the foundations of a house at the corner of the present streets
Cremona and ^lai-morelle. He describes the structure as built of
blocks of marble " lavorati
eccellentemente." Tlie cor-
nice was adorned with sym-
bols of the sea — dolphins,
tridents, etc. ; the temple
itself was hexastyle, perip-
teral, and pycnostyle. This
last particular is expressly
mentioned by Vitruvius (iii.
3), and Palladio confesses
" di non hauer veduto inter-
colunnii cosi jnccioli in al-
cun altro editicio antico " —
never to have seen such
small intei-columniation in
any other ancient edifice.
The temple is now com-
pletely hidden from view ;
the only remains visible, in
an alley, Via del Ghettarel-
lo, No. 18, pertain to the ta-
berufe, or shops which lined
the Forum on the (south-)
west side. They have been
excavated twice at least :
first about the end of the
fifteenth century, when Fra
Giocondo da Yerona made
a design of them (Utfizi, n.
l.-j^T), and again by Parker
in 186G. Tliese important
remains were called Forum
^lartis, ISlartis Forum, Mar-
forio, in the ]Middle Ages.
The statue of the River
God, known as the facetious partner of Pasquino, was discovered
at the foot of the street which bears his name, together with the
granite basin into which the water fell from the god's ui-n. The
statue was removed to the Caintol by Sixtus V., and placed by

Fig. 115. —The Venus Genetrix by Aikesilaos
— a Fragment iu the Museo delle Terms.

302 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

Clement XII., in 1734, in the court of the Capitoline Museum,
above the fountain. The basin was removed first to the Campo
Vaccino, by S. Maria Liberatrice, in 1594, and again to the Piazza
del Quirinale in 1818. The place where both were discovered is
marked by a tablet (written by Bartolomeo Marliano) above the
door No. 49 Via di Marforio.

There are several copies of the Venus Genetrix of Arkesilaos.
The goddess appears clad in a thin, semi-transparent chiton,
tlirough which the form of the young and lovely body can be
clearly seen ; the left breast is bare. There is a replica in the
Borghese Museum (Helbig, Guide, vol. ii. p. 141, n. 915); an-
other in the ]\Iuseo delle Terme, reproduced in Fig. 115 (ibid.,
p. 213, n. 1027); a third in the Louvre (Froehner, Sculpture
antique, vol. i. p. 16G, n. 135), etc. Consult Otto Jahn, "Leip-
ziger Monatsberichte," 1861, p. 114; and Wissowa, "De Veneris
Simulacris romanis." Wratislaw, 1882.

LiTEKATUKE. — Andrea Palladio, Architettura, ed. 1570, lib. iv. c. 31. —
Flaminio Vacca, 3Ie.m. 69 (in Fea's Miscell., vol. i. p. Ixxxiii.). — Francesco
Cancellieri, Noiizie delle statue chtte di Marforio e di Pasquino. Rome, 1789.
— Giovanni Battista Cavalieri, Antiquar. statuar. Rome, 1585, pi. 94. —
Charles Bunsen, Bull. Inst., 18.36, p. 55. — Luigi C'anina, Foro Romano, 94;
and Edifizii, vol. ii. pis. xcii.-xcv. — F. M. Nichols, The Roman Forum,
p. 251. — Forma Urbis Roma, pi. xx.

LII. Forum Augustum (plan. Fig. 110). Augustus followed
the example of Ceesar and built a third and more magnificent
forum in continuation of the two existing ones. Its remains,
known by the name of " Arco dei Pantani," rank among the finest
of ancient Rome. The most remarkable feature of the place is a
wall of blocks of peperino, raised to a great height to screen the
view of the mean houses clustered on the slope of the Quirinal,
in the neighborhood of the present Via Baccina and Salita del
Grillo. The wall is pierced liy an original archway, the Arco dei
Pantani just named, through which the modern traflSc passes at a
considerably higher level than the original street which led to the
Subura. Against it stand the remains of the beautiful Temple of
Mars Ultor, one of the few which have come down to us from the
Augustan age without restorations. They consist of three fluted
Corinthian columns, of part of the right wall of the cella, and of
the roof of the vestibule. They stand on a substructure excavated
in 1842, when the inscription in " Corpus," n. 2158, was found, re-
lating to the solemn procession which the Salii Palatini made
every year on INIarch 1 (and for several days following), chanting

THE FORUM AUGU8TUM

303

the axamenta or saliaria carmina, and dancing sacred war-dances —
whence the name of Salii. The inscription had ah-eady been seen
and copied at the time of Sixtus IV. in 1477, and had been used,
later on, in the restorations of the church of S. Basilio of the
Priory of Malta, which occupied the southern hemicycle of the
Forum. Mars (Gradivus) being the god presiding over the Col-

Foro troiano

CRYPTA ET
PUTKUS (1263)

Part excavated under Sixtus IV (1477)

FORUM
AUGUSTUM

lia/ier Cr BoiUalliC.

Fig. 116. — Plan of tlie Forum Augustuin.

304 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

lege of the Salii, its temple was selected by them as the last haltr
ing-place (mansio) after their exhausting progress through the
city. The splendor of the banquet which terminated the celebra-
tion is praised by both Cicero and Horace, and indeed the phrases
" saliares dapes " and " epulari saliarem in modum " seem to have
passed into a proverb. Suetonius relates that while the Emperor
Claudius was sitting one day on the throne delivering judgment
in this forum, his nostrils were struck by the appetizing odor of
the repast prepared for the Salii. Adjourning, therefore, the
case which was being argued before him, he rushed into the tem-
ple and sat down among the banqueting priests.

The ii-regular form of the wall at the back of the temple and
of the Forum is accounted for by the circumstance that Augustus
was unable to obtain a symmetrical area, as the owners of the
nearest houses could not be induced to part with their property.
Flaminio Vacca says that a piece of the wall having been demol-
ished, towards the end of the sixteenth century, it was found out
that the blocks of peperino were fastened to each other by means
of wooden clamps shaped like a swallow's tail, and that nobody
could ascertain what kind of wood they were cut out of (probably
box- wood). Pliny praises the Temple of Mars Ultor as one of
the rnost beautiful and perfect works of man ever seen on earth,
and places it on the same level with the Forum and Temple of
Peace, and with the Basilica ^Emilia. The great pieces of timber
used in the roof had been cut in the Rhaitian Alps, in the dog-
days, a precaution which was considered to make wood indestruc-
tible. Pliny also mentions among its treasures vases of chiseled
iron, a statue of Apollo cut in ivory, two large pictures represent-
ing a battle and a triumph, and four noble works of Apelles, one
of which, representing the victory of Alexander the Great, was
altered in the time of Claudius by substituting the likeness of
Augustus for that of the Macedonian king. The temple also
contained a set of standard weights and measures, and safes and
strong boxes, where large sums belonging to private citizens
were kept under the guarantee of the priests. A daring robbery
perpetrated towards the end of the first century, when even the
precious helmet was wrenched from the head of Mars Ultor,
frightened the depositors so that the priests gave up banking, at
least for the time.

The main point of interest of this forum was the gallery of
statues, raised by Augustus to the generals who by their exi^loits
and victories had extended the boundaries of the Roman Empire.

THE FORUM AUGUSTUM

305

The rules formulated by Augustus for the giving of so great a
distinction were very strict, but his successors soon relaxed their
severity, and statues were offered right and left, just like the
equestrian orders of nowadays. L. Silanus, although a minor,
was given a statue after his betrothal to Octavia, daughter of
Claudius. Another was raised in honor of Q. Curtius Rufus,
legate of Germany, for having opened a silver mine (near Nassau

Fig. 117. — Tlie South Heuiicycle of the Foruui Augustmii. excavated in 1888.

306 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

on the right bank of the Rhine) which brought little profit to the
treasury, but caused great toil and hardship to the soldiers.
Nero, after the conspiracy of the Pisones was revealed to him,
convened the Senate, and obtained the ornamenta triumplialia for
those who had turned informers. Pliny the younger reproaches
Domitian for having given statues to men who had never been in
action, not even in camp, and who had never heard the sound of a
trumpet except from the stage.

The Forum of Augustus lost its privilege of being the national
protomotheca with the construction of that of Trajan. The honors
were then divided between the two places, as shown by the inscrip-
tion of M. BassfBus Rufus (Corpus, n. 1599).

Many important discoveries illustrating this point were made in
1888-89, when the municipality of Rome, at my suggestion, pulled
down the houses and factories which concealed the southern hemi-
cycle and laid bare its boundary wall and the niches once occupied
by the statues of the Roman heroes. I have described the results
of these great excavations in the " Bull. arch, com.," 1889, pp. 26
and 73 (compare 1889, p. 481 ; and 1890, p. 251).

Besides fragments of statues in military attire, columns of giallo
antico, capitals, friezes of exquisite workmanship, we brought to
light the base of a donariuin, for which one hundred pounds of
gold had been used, offered to Augustus by the Spanish province
of Baetica ; a pedestal of a statue dedicated to Nigrinianus, nephew
of the Emperor Cams, by a financier named Geminius Festus ; and
inscriptions — in a more or less fragmentary state — which accom-
panied the statues of some victorious generals, giving a short
account of their exploits. The editors of the first volume, second
edition, of the " Corpus Inscript." ^ attribute to Professor Bormann
the merit of having made known the fact that these eulogistic
biographies, dictated by Augustus, are divided into two parts, —
one giving the name in the first case, like —

M • AIMILIVS • Q • F • L • N
BARBVLA . DICTATOR

engraved on the plinth of the statue ; the other giving the account
of his career, being engraved on a marble tablet placed below the

1 Inscription es latinee antiquissimce, editio altera, pars prior, Berlin, Reimer,
MDcccxciii, p. 187, col. a.

THE FORUM TRANSITORIUM 307

niche. I had myself pointed out this important circumstance so
far back as February, 1889 (see Bull, com., pp. 73, 77), and I was
able to prove thus that many eulogies of illustrious men — the
place of discovery of which was not known — belonged to the
Forum of Augustus.

The eulogies, or fragments of eulogies, found in 1888-89 are
now preserved in the Museo Municipale al Celio. They belong to
Appius Claudius Csecus, the builder of the Via Appia ; to C. Duillius,
who destroyed the Punic fleet on the coast of Sicily ; to Q. Fabius
Maximus, dictator ; to L. Corjielius Scipio, who led a successful
war against King Antiochus in 190 b. c. ; to Q. Csecilius Metellus
Xumidicus ; to L. Cornelius Sulla Felix, dictator, etc.

The area of the Forum of Augustus is covered by a double bed
of ruins. The lower one, 2.75 metres high, formed the bottom of
the marsh, or pond, called il Pantano, where, for want of a proper
outlet, the rain-water from the slopes of the Quirinal and the
valley of the Subura collected in the Middle Ages. The upper
one, 3.25 metres thick, dates from the year 1570, when Pius V. and
the commissioner of streets, Prospero Boccapaduli, drained the
marsh, found an outlet for the waters, and raised the city to the
present level. Needless to say, works of art and objects of arcliae-
ological value are found only in the lower strata. Marchese Ales-
sandro Guiccioli, syndic of Rome, at the time of the excavations
of 1888-89 had formed tlie project of laying bare the whole extent
of the Forum ; and certainly no greater benefit could have been
conferred on students of ancient Rome, and no greater addition
secured to the archajological w^ealth of our city than by the libera-
tion of these ruins from the ignoble superstructures which hide
them from view. An exchange of property between the munici-
pality and the Ospizio dei Convertendi, which owns the place, had
already been agreed upon, when the financial crisis of 1889 occurred,
and stopped the progress of our work.

LiTEKATUKK. — Theodor Mommseu, Res Gestce did Augusti, iv. 21-2(i, p.
126, 2d edit. — Corpus Inscr., vol. vi. 1386 ; and Inscr. lat. antiquiss., 2d edit.
Berlin, Reimer, 189.3, p. 186. — Luigi Borsari, II foro di Aur/usto e il temj3io di
Marte Ultore, Accad. Lincei, 3 serie, vol. xiii., 1883-84, p. 406. — Rodolfo
Lanciani, Bull, com., 1889, pj). 26 and 73. — Giuseppe Gatti, ibid., 1889, p.
481; and 1890, p. 251, pi. 14. — Christian Huelsen, Mittheilungen, vol. v.,
1890, pp. 247, 305 ; and vol. vi., 1891, p. 94. — Th(?denat, in Daremberg and
Saglio's Dictionnaire, p. 1311.

LIII. Forum Transitorium. — This Forum, commenced by
Domitian and finished by Nerva, was called transitorium or pervium

o08 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

because tlie great thoroughfare of the Argiletum passed through
it ; also Forum Nerval from the founder and Forum jNIinervse or
Forum Palladium from the goddess to whom it was dedicated. It
was a long, narrow inclosure, 117 metres by 39, more like a hand-
somely decorated street than a scjuare. The inclosure walls, built
of peperino and coated with marble, were lined with fluted columns
supporting a richly carved entablature, of which one intercolumnia-
tion alone remains, known by the name of Le Colonnacce (corner
of Via Alessandrina and Via della Croce Bianca). Four hundred
years ago it could still be measured in its entirety by Antonio da
Sangallo the younger, Baldassarre, and Sallustio Peruzzi and others,
whose drawings I have published in the " Atti d. r. Accad. d.
Lincei," vol. xi. 1883. The destruction was not accomplished at
once, but was the work of many generations, the monks of S.
Adriano being foremost in the campaign against the edifice. I
have found mention more than once, in deeds of the fourteenth
century, of a great lime-kiln established near their church under
the name of " calcaria ecclesise sancti Hadriani." In November,
1520, a gang oi fossores lapidum ^ opened a trench at the foot of one
of the archways of the Forum, known by the name of Arcus Noe,
or Arcanoe (the Arch of Noah), and began to undermine the wall
of peperino. Francesco di Branca, one of the city magistrates,
caused a member of the gang to be arrested ; but Cardinal Scara-
muccia Trivulzio, in whose interests perhaps he was working,
obtained his prompt release from Leo X. The " vignettes " of the
sixteenth century, of Dosio, Du Perac, Koch, Gamucci, etc., repre-
sent this Arch of Noah and the adjoining Temple of JNIinerva in a
good state of preservation. The ruins were so striking and pic-
turesque that many artists have selected them as a background to
their compositions. The following sketch (Fig. 118) of Boscolo in
Laing's collection, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, represents
the meeting of some holy men before the Temple of Minerva ; the
Arch of Noah appears on the right, and above it the church and
belfry of SS. Stefano and Lorenzo (now SS. Quirico e Giolitta).

The destruction of the arch and of the temple is commonly attri-
buted to Pope Paul v., Borghese ; but Clement VIII., Aldobrandini,
had already laid hands on them. Giacomo Grimaldi says that
while walking one day through the Lungara with Giacomo della
Porta, they saw a great block of Parian marble being removed
from this temple to S. Peter's. The block, belonging to the archi-
trave, measured 11.5.5 cubic metres, or about 346 cubic feet. Clem-
1 Contractors for the supply of building materials.

THE FORUM TRANSITORIUM

309

eut VIII. made use of it for the high altar of S. Peter's, which he
inaugurated on June 26, 1594. The rest of the temple disappeared
in 1606. The columns and the frieze were cut in slabs, and made
use of for the decoration of the fountain of the Acqua Paola on the
Janiculum. The blocks of stone belonging to the cella and to the
inclosure wall of the Forum were given by Paul V. to the prior
and monks of S. Adriano. The platform of the temple still exists,
althougli liidden from view ; the house at the corner of the Via
Alessandrina, which faces the Colonnacce on one side and the
church of 8. Agata on the other, is built upon it. Another house.
No. ;58 Via della Croce Bianca, may be truly said to rest on a bed
of marble. I saw its foundations sunk, in October, 1882, through
a mass of broken columns, capitals, friezes, and pedestals. The
pavement of the Forum lies here at the depth of 5.50 metres.
Like the Forum Augustum and the Forum Traiani, this one

Fig. 118. — The Forum Trausitorium : a sketch by Boscolo.

had also its own gallery of portrait statues. Its institution dates
from the time of Severus Alexander ; compare " Vita Alex.," 28 :
"Colossal statues, single or equestrian, were raised by him in
Nerva's Forum to deified Emperors or Empresses." Two speci-
mens have come down to us : one of them was discovered in the

310 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

first quarter of the sixteenth century by Angelo de Massimi, and
removed, first to the family palace in the Via Papale, and later on
to the Capitoline Museum (ground floor, corridor No. 19). The
name of King Pyrrhus attributed to it is manifestly erroneous ; at
the same time we cannot agree with Helbig in identifying it with
Mars, on account of the evidence of the biographer, who speaks
not of gods but of deified Roman Emperors. The fragments of
a second colossal (female) figure, resembling to a certain degree
the Thusnelda in the Loggia de' Lanzi, Florence, were discovered
by Vitali in 1882.

LiTEKATURE. — Rodolfo Lauciaiii, L^ aula e gll uffici del Senato Romano (in
Mem. Accad. Liucei, 1883, p. 2:3). — Wolfgang Helbig, Guide, vol. i. p. 295,
11. 405. — H. Bliimner, Annul. Inst., 1877, p. 5; and Munmnenti, vol. x. pi. 11.
— Eugene Petersen, Mittheilunyen, vol. iv. 1889, p. 88. — TWdenat, in Da-
remberg and Saglio's Dictionnaire, p. 1314. — Heinricli .Jordan, Forma, p. 27.

LIV. Forum Traiani (Forum of Trajan, Plan, Fig. 119). —
We must now enter the last and most magnificent of Roman fora,
built by Trajan between a. d. 112 and 111 from the designs of
Apollodorus of Damascus. It was not only a masterpiece of
architecture, but also, if we recollect the difficulties its builders
had to contend with to find a suitable space for it, a chef-d' ceuvre
of engineering skill.

The Capitoline, located in the heart of the city, was not an
isolated hill, as it is at present : the tide of traffic between the
northern and southern quarters could not round it on either side
as is now the case. The Capitoline was a spur of the Quirinal,
advancing towards the river to within a few hundred feet from its
left bank. The obstruction could be overcome in one of two
ways : by crossing the ridge connecting the two hills by the Clivus
Argentarius, corresponding to our Via di Marf orio, only five metres
wide with a gradient of ten per cent ; or else by rounding the rock
on the river-side. The passage was certainly easy and level on
the rivei-side, but three times as long as the cut through the ridge,
and obviously insufficient for the traffic of a city inhabited by a
million people. To obviate this evil, to relieve the strip of land
west of the Capitoline from the pressure of traffic, and to double,
at the same time, the extent of the five existing fora (Romanum,
lulium, Augustum, Pacis, and Transitorium) Trajan and Apollo-
dorus conceived the plan of severing the Capitoline from the Qui-
rinal, and of substituting for the narrow and steep guUy of the
Clivus Argentarius a level space 185 metres wide. Private prop-
erty on each slope and on the top of the ridge was accordingly

THE FORUM OF TRAJAN

311

bought and destroyed to the extent of over 40,000 square metres,
and the ridge was cut, excavated, and bodily carted away. So
great was the astonishment created by the great work that the
well-known column was erected at a public cost, " ad declarandum
quantas altitudinis raons et locus sit egestus " (Corpus Inscr., vi.

312 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

11. 960), — "• to show to posterity how high rose the mountain lev-
eled to make room for the I'orum." The pillar, statue included,
is 42 metres high. The 700,000 or 800,000 cubic metres of earth
and rock were carted away outside the Porta Collina, and spread
over the cemetery between the Via Salaria Nova and Vetus. (See
Pagan and Christian Rome, p. 284.)

Trajan's Forum comprised seven parts : the propylaia with the
triumphal arch of the founder, the square itself with the eques-
trian statue in the middle, the Basilica Ulpia, the Bibliotheca
Ulpia, two hemicycles, the monumental column, and the Temple
of Trajan.

The triumphal arch which formed the entrance to the Forum
was demolished, or at least greatly injured, by the cominissioiiers
of streets in March, 1.526. The case was inquired into by Fran-
cesco Cenci, the chief magistrate of the city, who made a report
to the town council March 26, but no redress seems to have been
obtained. In the latter part of the sixteenth century (about
l.'iTO) other remains were dug up near the church of S. Maria in
C'anipo Carleo. Flaminio Vacca describes them as "vestigie di
un' arco trionfale con molti pezzi di istorie," viz., with fragments
of bas-reliefs which represented Trajan fording a river on horse-
back. King Decebalus bound in chains, the seizing of the enemy's
cattle, etc. The last discoveries took place in 1863, when the
church of S. Maria in Campo Carleo was demolished to widen
the roadway at the entrance of the A^ia Alessandrina. The arch,
erected, or at least voted, by the S. P. Q. R. in a. d. 117, a few
months before Trajan's death, is represented with minute details
in the medal ap. Cohen, "Monnaies imper. Trajan," n. 167.

Literature. — Dion Cassius, Ixviii. 29. — Codex vatic, 3439, f . 84. — Codex
Berolhi., f. 36. — Flaminio Vacca, Mem. 9 (in Fea's Miscellanea, vol. i.).—
Angelo Pellegrini, Bull, fnst., 1883, p. 78. — Pasquale Adinolfi, Roma neW
eta di mezzo, vol. i. p. 54.

The Forum, 95 metres long and 116 wide, was surrounded by a
double colonnade on three sides, the fourth side, opposite the
propylaia, being occupied by the basilica. The porticoes were
crowded with statues of eminent men, with an account of their
career engraved on the pedestals. Many of these valuable histori-
cal documents have already been discovered ; ^ they belong mostly
to the fourth century after Christ. The inclosure wall of the
forum was built of blocks of peperino lined with marble, like

1 Corpus Inscr., 1141, 1679, 1683, 1710, 1715, 1721, 1724, 1725, 1727, 1729,
1736, 1749, 1764, 1783.

THE FORUM OF TRAJAN 313

those of the Foriiin Augustum and Forum Transitorium. No trace
of it appears now above ground, but we have a careful descrip-
tion of it in a deed of 1263 (quoted by Adinolfi in vol. ii. of " Roma
nell' eta di mezzo," p. 54. It was called the " murus marmoreus,"
and crossed the whole extent of the Campo Carleo from the Capi-
toline to the Quirinal hill. The equestrian statue of the Emperor
rose in the centre of the square. Ammianus Marcellinus (xvi. 10)
describes the impressions felt by the Emperor Constantius at
the first sight of the group. " Having now entered the Forum
Trajanum, the most marvelous creation of human genius, he was
struck with wonder, and looked round in amazement at the gi-eat
structures which no pen can describe, and which mankind can
ci-eate and see but once in the course of centuries. . . . Then he
turned his attention to the equestrian statue in the centre of the
forum, and said to his attendants he would have one like it in
Constantinoiile, to which Ilormisdas, a young Persian prince at-
tached to the com't, replied, ' You must first provide your horse
with a stable like this.' " I shall recall to the memory of the
reader only two of the numy historical events which have taken
place in this forum. First the burning of the registers of the
arrears due to the Imperial Treasury {syntjrapha or tahulce dehito-
rum) by private citizens, ordered by Hadrian a. d. 118. The sum
was simply apjialling : " novies millies centena millia sestertium,"
or about 170,000.000 lire. A fragment of the inscription record-
ing the event, discovered in 1812, has been set up in the modern
wall behind the pillar. (See Corpus Inscr., vi. 967 ; Eckhel,
Doctr. numm., vol. vii. 486 ; and Vita Hadr., 7.) The other
occm-rence is related in the " Vita Marci," ch. xvii. The treasury
being exhausted in consequence of the Marcomannic wars, and
the Emperor being unwilling to burden his subjects with new
contributions (especially as the pestilence was then raging), he
put up at auction all the valuables of the crown. The auction
took place in the Forum of Trajan and lasted two months, a large
sum of money being realized, with the help of which the war was
brought to a successful close. Marcus Aurelius sold the golden
plate and vases of crystal and murrha, even the Imperial drinking-
cups, the state robes set with gems and woven of silk, and also
many marvelous jewels which he had found in a secret drawer of
Hadrian (m repostorio sanctiore Hadriani). After the end of the
war he offered to buy back the objects sold, and showed no dis-
satisfaction whatever with those who refused.

To support the deep cuttings on either side of the Forum, Apol-

314

A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

lodorus raised two hemicycles (Fig. 119, A, B) the design and ai--
chitecture of which is so complicated that it would be difficult to
describe it properly. There are few traces left of the one towards
the Capitol, but the semicircular line of the houses in the Piazza
delle Chiavi d' Oro shows it to have been perfectly symmetrical with
the one on the opposite side. This last, very well preserved, bears
the traditional name of baths of ^Emilius Paulus — Balneapauli,
Magnanapoli — and consists of many-storied corridors and shops
or rooms, built against the live rock of the Quirinal. The pave-
ment which extends in front of the building was laid bare during
the French invasion (1812). The place well deserves a visit.
Apply to the custode of the Forum, or to the Ufficio dei Monu-
menti via in Miranda. The remains, however, are not all accessi-
ble. They cover an immense sj^ace under the Palazzo Ceva-Rocca-
giovane, Palazzo Tiberi, under the barracks and monastery of S.
Caterina da Siena, under the house and garden of Prince Ruspoli,
and also under the houses of the Via del Grillo.

LiTERATUKE. — Carlo Fea, Prodromo di nuove osservazioni, p. 4 ; and Iscri-
zioni di Monum., p. 13. — Emil Braun, Ruins and Museums, p. 20, ii. 8. — Mari-
ano Armellini, Chiese, 2d ed. p. 177. The remains have been measured and
slcetched by Sangallo tlie elder, Cod. Barberin., f . 2 ; by Sangallo the younger,
Uffizi, n. 1187; by Salhistio Peruzzi, Uffizi, 653, 654!^ 656, 665, 687;" by Gio.
Antonio Dosio, Uffizi, 2540, 2565; by Martin Heemskerk, Berlin, 28, 34; and
by Andrea Aleppi and Domenico Cacchiatelli, after the French excavations
in 1815.

The Basilica Ulpia, a hall 89 metres long and .54 wide, siuTounded
by a double line of columns, 96 in all, was excavated in 1813 by
the French government after the demolition of the convents dello

Fig. 120. —Frieze from the Basilica Ulpia (Laterau Museuiu).

THE FORUM OF TRAJAN

315

Spirito Sauto and di S. Eufemia, which occupied its site. On the
return of Pius VII. in 1S14 the works were resumed, a wall support-
ing the modern streets was built on the border of the excavations,
and the columns of the nave and aisles were set up on their bases,
many of which had been found in situ. It must be observed, how-
ever, that not all tlie columns were of gray or Psaronian granite ;
those on either side of the entrance doors were certainly, and those
of the nave were probably, of giallo antico, and fluted. One of these
last was removed to the Lateran at the time of Clement VIII. and
placed under the organ of the nave Clementina ; and four went to
the transept of S. Peter's. The nave was covered by a roof of
bronze, the bpo^ov xa^^icov of Pausanias (v. 12, 4, and x. 5, 5), and

Fig. 121. — Frieze from the Basilica Ulpia (Lateran Museum).

paved with crusts of the rarest marble, many fragments of which,
discovered in 1813, have since been stolen by unscrupulous tourists.
The basilica faced the Forum on its longer side, as the Basilica
Julia faced the Forum Romanum. There were three doors, flanked
by four columns each, and above them quadrigae, and trophies of
gilt metal, made ex vianuhiis, viz., with the produce of the sale of
the spoils of war. The names of the glorious legions who had
fought so bravely in botli Dacian campaigns were engraved on the

316 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

frieze over the doors ; we can still i"ead those of the XI Claudia,
of the XV Apollinaris, and of the XX Valeria Victrix. Other
trophies were set up, on the edge of the five marble steps which
descended to the " ai'ea fori," on pedestals inscribed with the legend
(Corpus, vi. n. 959), " The S. P. Q. R. to Traian, son of Nerva
. . . consul for the sixth time (a. d. 112), father of the country,
for the great services rendered to the commonwealth in peace and
in war." The marvelous beauty of the marble decorations of the
nave and aisles cannot be properly described. The reader may get
an idea of it from the two fragments which are here reproduced
(Figs. 120, 121). (Compare Helbig's Guide, vol. i. p. 468, n. 627;
and p. 470, n. 629, 630.) The side of the basilica towards the
Forum is represented in two medals ap. Cohen, " Monnaies imper.
Trajan," n. 42, 43, 44 ; and its plan in a fragment of the " Forma
Urbis," ap. Jordan, 25, 26.

The basilica ended with two hemicycles, one of which was called
" Libertatis." The meaning of the name is not certain, but, as we
know from Sidonius Apollinaris that the formalities attending the
manumission of slaves were accomplished in this Forum, it is
possible that the old name of Atrium Libertatis had been trans-
ferred in the second century from the neighborhood of the Forum
Romanum ^ to the hemicycle of the Basilica Ulpia, a portion of
which is still visible under the Palazzo Ceva-Roccagiovine. Momm-
sen and De Rossi have expressed the opinion that the ceremony of
manumission was again performed in the fourth century in or near
the old site, in the Secretarium Senatiis.

Coming out of the basilica from the side opi^osite the Forum,
we enter a small court or cavasdium (24 metres by 16) flanked by
two halls, which have been identified with the libraries mentioned
by Dion Cassius (Ixviii. 26). They were called Bibliotheca Ulpia,
and also Bibliotheca Templi Traiani. Nibby, who saw them exca-
vated in 1812-14, gives a good description of their arrangement in
vol. ii. p. 189 of the " Roma antica." Gellius names among their
contents the edicta prcetorum, and Vopiscus (?) the libri lintei or
official registers {regestd) of the acts and deeds of each Emperor.
A special license from the prefect of Rome was required to inspect
these records of the history of the world ; and when Vopiscus
himself was asked to write the life of Aurelianus on the basis of
official documents, he had to apply to Junius Tiberianus. prefect
A, D. 291, for a permit to consult them. Thei-e was another set
called lihri elephantini, on the leaves of which, made of sheets of
1 Cicero, Ad Attic, book iv. n. 16 ; Servius, ^ntkl, book i. v. 726.

THE FORUM OF TRAJAN 317

ivory, were transcribed the Senatus consulta concerning the person
of the Emperor. The documents of state were afterwards re-
moved by Diocletian to his baths.

The great column, columna cochlis, 128 feet, or 38 metres, high,
without the statue, stands in a court of such diminutive propor-
tions that it could not possibly be seen to advantage, except from
the north side, that is, from the steps of the temple. It is com-
posed of 34 blocks of Carrara marble, 8 of which form the pedestal,
1 the base, 23 the shaft, 1 the capital, and 1 the pedestal of the
bronze statue. A spiral staircase of 185 steps, lighted by 45 loop-
holes, leads to the top, viz., to the square platform above the
capital. A spiral band of high reliefs describing the fortunes of
the Dacic wars covers the column on the outside. The reliefs,
containing 2,500 figures, were cut after the shaft had been set up,
so as to make the joints of the blocks absolutely imperceptible.
The same process was followed with regard to the spiral stairs,
which were only roughly hewn out of the block before it was
lifted into position, and then finished. Nothing can give a better
idea of the exactness and ingenuity with which the great work
was accomplished than to ascend the pillar ^ and examine the
joints, the development of the steps, and the clever distribution of
the loopholes, which, while supplying plenty of light, are so well
concealed by the outer relief as to i-emain almost invisible. On
Hearing the door, which opens on the platform or balcony above
the capital, we see the sides of the stairs covered with graffiti,
with historical names among them. The oldest dates from a. d.
663, and refers to the disastrous visit of Constans II., described
in " Ancient Rome," p. 294.

There is a current belief that Trajan's ashes were deposited
underneath the column in an urn of solid gold. Dion Cassius
(Ixix. 2) is responsible for this statement, which is confirmed by
Eutropius and Cassiodorus ; but if we consider that the column
was finished in 113, viz., four years before Trajan's death, that the
inscription on the pedestal distinctly asserts that it was raised to
mark the height of the hill cut away to make room for the Forum
and not as a funeral monument, and that there is no trace of a
room, recess, or vault, nor of a door and of stairs leading or de-
scending to it, Dion's statement appears to us more than doubtful.
The question C9uld be easily cleared up de facto by examining the
foundations on which the column rests.

1 Permission may be obtained at the Ufficio regionale dei Monumenti via in
Miranda.

318 A WALK THROUGH THE SACRA VIA

An inscription discovered in Rome in the latter part of the
fifteenth century is closely connected with the Emperor's death at
Selinus in Cilicia, in Angust, 117. It mentions likewise the death
of one of his faithful servants, a young man of twenty-eight, M.
Ulpius Phsedimus, a butler, which took place on August 12 of the
same year and in tlie same city. His ashes were also removed
to Rome and given a solemn burial : " reliquiae treiectse eius ex
permissu collegii pontific(um) piaculo facto."

The discovery of the polychromy of the column, viz., of traces
of colors (and of gilding?), was made by G. Semper on July 9,
1833, as briefly described in the "Bull. Inst.," 1833, p. 92. P.
Morey, one of those who had joined Semper in his perilous expe-
dition,! tried to deny the statement in a letter addressed to Bun-
sen (ibid., 1836, p. 39). Later observations, made when Napoleon
III. caused a plaster cast to be taken of the column, have shown
Semper's theory to be the correct one.

The pedestal of the column was excavated at the time of Paul
III., who caused the church of S. Nicolao de Columna to be de-
molished. Sixtus V. in 1.588 built an inclosure wall round the
pedestal, and placed the bronze statue of S. Peter on the top of
the pillar. The murder of Hugues Basseville or Basville, the
envoy of the French revolutionists, took place at the foot of this
column the 23 nivose, an I. (January 13, 1793). The assassina-
tion is represented in a rare engraving by Berthault.

Literature. — Cor/9M.s inscr., vol. vi. n. 960. — Antonio da Sangallo the
elder, Cod. Barber., f. 18, and other artists mentioned in Ferri's Catalogue of
Architectural Drawings in the Uffizi (Rome, 1885), pp. 156 and 167. — Pietro
da Cortona, in Dr. Meade's collection of drawings at Eton College. See Bull,
com., 1895, p. 182. — Alfonso Ciaccone, Hisloria utriusque belli Dacici, etc.
Rome, 1576, fol. — Anton. Francesco Gori, Columna traiana . . . ab Andrea
Morellio delineata; etc. Amsterdam, 1652. — Raffaele Fahretti, De columna
traiana syntai/ma'. Rome, 1683. — Gio. Battista Piranesi, Trofeo o sia mayni-
fica cohnna, etc., in 28 plates. — Platner and Hirt, Gesch. des Baukunst, ii.
355. ^ Carlo Fea, in Winckehnann's Storia dell' Arte, .\o\. in. p. .355.—
Froehner, La colonne trajane, in 8° 1865; -in fol. 1874. — Salomon . Reinach,
La colonne trajane au musee de Saint Germain, 1S8G. — Auguste Geffroy, La
colonne d'Arcadius a Constantinople, extrait des Monuments et Memoires pu-
blies par I'Acad. des Inscr. Paris, Leroux, 1895. In the Cabinet des Estampes,
Biblioth^que Nationale, Paris (Rome, volume 3fonti, D), there are over one
hundred prints of the column. A silver model carved by Valadier is now in
the royal palace at Munich.

The Temple of Trajan closed the monumental group on the
1 They had been lowered from the capital in a kind of cage held by ropes
and pulleys.

THE FORUM OF TRAJAN

319

north side. It was erected by Hadrian parentibvs svis (Trajan
and Plotina), and was noted for its colossal proportions. The
Corinthian capitals six feet high, and the pieces of columns of
granite six feet in diameter which now lie at the foot of the pillar,
have been discovered at various times under the Palazzo Imperiali-
Valentini. Winckelmann describes the removal of one, found
in August, 1765, while five more were left on the spot. I liave
myself seen other pieces discovered when the Palazzo Valentin i
became the seat of the county council. The curious set of heads
of animals, alluding, perhaps, to the conquest of Arabia made by

Fig. 122.

1 in the Forum of Trajan.

Cornelius Pal ma, formerly in the court of the palace, was removed
in 1878 to the Collegio Romano, and again in 1890 to the Museo
delle Terme. (See Fig. 122.)

Literature. — Corpus Inscr., vi. n. 966. — Winckelmann, in Fea's Miscel-
lanea, vol. i. p. cci. n. '7; anil Storia deW Arte, vol. ii. p. 372, iii. p. 44. — '
Minutolo, in Sallengre's Stijjpl. antiq. rom., vol. i. col. 159. — Rodolfo Lan-
ciaui, Bull. Inst., ISdQ, p. 237.

The Forum of Trajan has been a favorite subject of study with
the young architects of the French Academy, Villa Medici. A
list of their drawings and restorations has been published by E.
Pourchet, 15 Rue des Beaux Arts, Paris.

BOOK IV

URBS SACRA REGIONUM XIV

Before giving an account of the rest of the city, I must remind
the reader once more that in writing this book I do not intend to
produce a manual of Roman topography, but simply a description
of its existing remains. In carrying out the scheme I have
endeavored, as stated in the preface, to group the buildings in
regard to their chronology or destination rather than to the place
they occupy accidentally in the various quarters of the city.

THE RUINS OF THE C^LIAN HILL.

Regio I. Porta Capena.

I. The Cfelian liill and its southwestern slopes were included
by Augustus within the limits of the first and second regions, the
line of separation being the wall of Servius Tullius. Regio I,
named Porta Capena, extended on the left side of the Appian
Way as far as the river Almo (tlie Acquataccio, or Marrana della
Caffarella), a distance of 2107 metres from the gate. Richter
calls it appropriately "die Vorstadt der Via Appia" and also "die
Vorstadt extra Portam Capenam." It was a narrow strip of land,
bounded on the side opposite the Appian Way by another road,
issuing from the Porta Metroni, the name of which is unknown.
A third road, the Latina, crosses it diagonally, skirting the base
of a hillock called by Ficoroni " il Celiolo," " Remuria " by others,
"Calvarello" in the Middle Ages, and now the "Monte d' Oro."
Considering the preference given by the Romans to the borders of
the great consular roads for the establishment of public cemeteries,
and for the erection of private tombs and mausoleums, no wonder
that Regio I, crossed by three of them, the Appia, the Latina, and
the one issuing from the Porta Metroni, should be in the main a
region of tombs. Some of them date from a remote age, when

Ftg 1Z3

y\\V OF KKGIONS T PORTA

rAPFNA AND \\ CAELI>\ONTT\'M

PORTA CAPENA 321

the Via Appia and the Via Latina were mere paths traced by the
hoofs of beasts of burden and not leveled or yet paved by the
hand of man. Such is the sepulchral cave discovered in May,
1836, in the Vigna Cremaschi, the first on the right of the Porta
Latina, a description of which is given in the "Bullett. Inst.,"
1836, p. 103. It was found by accident below the pavement of a
columbaria of the first centiuy, at a depth of 7.80 metres. It con-
sisted of "a gi'otto hewn out of the live rock, of irregular shape
and without ornaments. It contained several vases of black wai-e
(bucchero ?) with rough figures of animals traced on their surface
in the Etruscan fashion. One of the vases contained the remains
of an incinerated body." Roman tradition and epigraphic docu-
ments help us in following the growth and development of this
great necropolis, especially after the opening of the Vise Latina
and Appia, which took place between 312 and 297 b. c.^ The first
historical tomb, on leaving the gate, was that of Horatia, which
Livy (i. 26) describes as built "saxo quadrate" with blocks of
tufa; then followed the family mausoleums of the Catalini, of the
Scipios, of the Servilii, of the Metelli, mentioned by Cicero (Tus-
cul. 1, 7, 13), two of which, those of the Scipios and of the Metelli,
are still in existence.

II. HypoG.EUM SciPioxuM, discovered partly in 1614, partly in
1780. This venerable monument and the ground which covers
and surrounds it were bought, on my suggestion, by the city in
1880. They are entered by the Via di Porta S. Sebastiano, No. 12,
and can be visited every day, Sundays excepted. Entrance fee, 2.5
centimes.

The discoveries of the seventeenth century have been mentioned
by one epigraphist alone, Giacomo Sirmondo, in a book entitled
" Antiqna? inscriptionis, qua L. Scipionis Barbati filii expressum
est elogium, explanatio," Rome, 1617. Two sarcophagi were found :
one, of L. Cornelius Scipio, qutestor 167 B. c, was left undisturl)ed ;
the other, of L. Cornelius, son of Barbatus, consul 2.'59, was broken
and its inscription sold to a stone-cutter near the Ponte Rotto, in

1 The Via Appia was munita, that is to say, leveled, straightened, and ma-
cadamized by Appius Claudius Cfficus, censor in 312 b. c. (Livj-, ix. 29). The
brothers Ogulnii, censors in 297, added to it a sidewallv paved with flagstones,
which went as far as the Temple of Mars {ibid., x. 23). Lastly, T. Quinctius
Flamininus and M. Claudius Marcellus, censors in 188, " viam silice sternen-
dam a porta Capena ad Martis locaveriint" (ibid., xxxviii. 28). If we can
believe the same historian, the rest of the road from the temple to Bovillje
had been paved since the year 292 (x. 47).

322

URBS SACRA REGIONUM XIV

whose shop Grimaldi saw it on September 25, 1614. Agostini
bought it for twenty scudi, and gave or sold it to the Barberini,
who set it into the wall of the spiral staircase of their palace, near
the door of the library.

The brothers Sassi, owners of the vineyard in wliich the dis-
coveries of 1614 had taken j)lace, while enlarging their wine-cellar
in May, 1780, came once more across the hypogseum, and laid bare
its pi-ecious contents. In reading the accounts left by Morcelli,
Marini, Visconti, and Amaduzzi, we cannot understand liow such
acts of wanton destruction as the brothers Sassi perpetrated on
this most venerable of Roman historical tombs could have been
permitted or left unpimished by Pius VI., whose love for antique
monuments certainly cannot be questioned.

"The Scipios' tomb contains no ashes now:

The very sepulchres lie tenantless

Of their heroic dwellers ! "
The sarcophagi were broken to pieces ; their inscribed fronts
removed to the Vatican ; the aspect of the crypts altered ; tlie

"^^r

■Sffl?

Fv IT- CONSO i. -C EHjrOTI;Al'Dl I- 1 5 QvElE\flT-^ PvO-VXJS -TAVPAStftC l5 AVW^

Fig. in. — Sarcoi>liiigu.s of Scipio Barbatus in tlie Vatican.

movable objects dispersed; the facsimiles of the original epitaphs
affixed to the wrong places ; the signet ring of one of the heroes,
with the image of the Victory, given away to a Frenchman, Louis
Dutens, who in his turn gave or sold it to Lord Beverley. And
lastly, the very bones of the illustrious men, which had been
respected even by the so-called barbarians, would have been dis-
persed to the four winds, but for the ijious interference of Angelo
Quirini, a senator of Venice, who rescued the relics of L. Cornelius
Scipio, son of Barbatus, and placed them in a marble nrn in the

THE TOMB OF THE SCIPWS 323

Villa deir Alticchiero, near Padua. A remarkable fate indeed, if
we recall to mind the words of Livy (xxxviii. 53): •' Scipio spent
the last years of his life at Literuum, without missing in the least
degree the attractions of city life ; and, if we are to believe tradi-
tion, he left instructions at the point of death to be buried in his
farm : monimentumque ibi sedificarine funus sibi in ingrata patria
lieret." The same mother country, obdurate in her ingratitude,
allowed these remains to be dispersed after twenty centuries of rest.

From the descriptions left by those who witnessed the excavations
of 1780, compared with a model in full relief made at the same
time ^ and with the present aspect of the place, we learn the fol-
lowing details about the origin and the arrangement of the hypo-
gagum.

The part of the ancient cemetery now occupied by the Vigna
Sassi was crossed at an early period by a side road, connecting the
Via Appia with the Latina, the pavement of which is still visible
at the two ends. The road followed the foot of a rocky ridge ten or
fifteen feet high, and passed one or more tufa quarries which had
been opened in the face of the cliffs. One of these quarries, proba-
bly the property of the Scipios, was transformed into their family
tomb at the beginning of the third century b. c, probably on the
occasion of the opening of the Via Appia, u. c. 812. The hypo-
gteum, roughly modeled on the Etruscan type, formed ,a lai-ge
room, with a flat low ceiling supported by four massive pillars of
rock, yet very far from the regularity which it appears to have in
Piranesi's drawings (Fig. 125). The fii-st occupant was L. Cornelius
Scipio Barbatus, consul in 298 b. c. His sarcophagus, now in the
Vatican Museum (Belvedere, No. 2), is the only elaborate piece of
work discovered in the tomb. The frieze, which is Doric in style,
consists of triglj'jjhs and of metopes adorned with rosettes : the
torus of the lid ends with Ionic volutes. The inscription, in the
early Italic Saturnine verse, has been translated by Mommsen as
follows : —

roniclius Lucius — Scipio Barbatus
son of his father Gn:evus — a man as clever as brave
whose handsome appearance — was in harmony with his A-irtue
who was consul and censor — among you, as well as ^Edilu

Tanrasia Cisaunia — he captured in Samnium
utterly overcomes Lucania — and brings away hostages. -

1 Nibby saw it in 18.39 in the house of Signer Vincenzo Titoli.

- Wolfgang Helbig, Guide to the Collections of Antiquities in Rome, vol. i. p.
7.5. — Corpus Inscr., vol. i. p. 16, n. 29, 30; vol. vi. n. 1284, 1285. — iJet-we de
Philologie, xiv. (1890) p. 119.

324

URBS SACRA REGIONUM XIV

The other sarcophagi were made of phiin slabs of stone, or cut
out of a single block. Their respective positions are marked in
tlie annexed plan.

Fig. 125. — Plan of the Tomb of the Scipios, according to Piranesi.

A A, Cross-road between the Via Appia and the Latina. B B, }fiirtii> or
semita, raised footway. C, Arclied entrance built of rough blocks of pepe-
rino. D, Base of one of the columns which decorated the front of the upper
story. E, Ancient entrance to the quarry, by which the sarcophagi were
nitroduced into the crypt. F, Sarcophagus of Lucius Scipio, son of Asiaticus,
Corpus, vol. i. n. 31. G, H, L, T, V, Coffins of unknown personages. I, Coffin
of peperino before which the marble tablet of .Julius Silanus was found. M,
Sarcophagus of L. Scipio, son of Barbatus, n. -32. X, Sarcophagus of L. Scipio,
sou of Cuivus, n. 34. 0, Sarcojiliagus of Scipio Bar-batus, n. 29. P, Sarco-
phagus of Cornelia Paula, n. -30. Q, Sarcophagus of Scipio Asiagenes Comatus,
n. 36. R, Sarcophagus of Scijiio Hispallus, n. 38. S, Marble slab with name
of Cornelia Ga?tulica. XXX, Three rooms, forming part of an edifice of the
second century, built of bricks. Y, Sarcophagus of P. Scipio flamen dialis,
n. 33. Z, Present entrance to the crypt.

THE TOMB OF THE f^ClPlOS

325

We are not sure how much faith Piranesi's plan deserves, some
of the particulars being manifestly fanciful. The gallery, for
instance, which runs in front of the sarcophagus of Barbatus (O),
has never been finished, and its end on the right is still blocked
by a ledge of live rock. The reader may estimate the amount of
damage M'hich the hypogajum has suffered since 1780 by compar-
ing Piranesi's plan w ith the following one, w hich shows its present
state.

Entrance

Fig. \16. — Tomb of the Scipios. (Present State.)

There are three more particulars to be noticed. The first is that
the crypts of the Scipios were kept accessible as a place of his-
torical pilgrimage up to the fourth century after Christ, as shown
by the walls in the so-called " opus maxentianum," built here and
there to keep the tomb in repair.

In the second ])lace, the preference shown by the gens Cornelia,
of which the Scipios were a branch, for burial as opposed to crema-
tion, is proved by the presence of sarcophagi and by the absence
of cinerary urns. (See Cicero, De Leg., ii. 12 ; and Pliny, vii. 54^.)
The first Cornelius to give up family traditions on this point was
Sulla the dictator, who, having caused the remains of Marius to
be exhumed and profaned, ordered his own body to be cremated
tor fear of retaliation. Sulla's ashes wei'e not deposited in this

326 URBS SACRA REGION VM XIV

family vault, — which seems to have been owned only by the three
branches of the Scipios called Africani, Asiatici, and Hispalli, —
but in a great mausoleum on the Campus Martins described by
Plutarch. What seems strange, however, is that none of the leaders
of the three branches — Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Maior,
the conqueror of Carthage, f 183 b. c. ; Lucius Cornelius Scipio
Asiaticiis, his brother ; and Cn. Cornelius Scipio Ilispallus, consul
in 171 — should have found rest in this tomb. Livy (xxxviii. .56)
says that no one knew whether the great Africanus had been buried
at Liternum or at Rome, because a grave and a statue were shown
in both places. Seneca likewise writes to Lucilius from Liter-
num : " I address this epistle [Ixxxvi] to you from the very villa
of Scipio the African, after having paid reverence to his memory
and to the altar which I suspect to be his grave." The monument
and statue erected in or near the Roman hypogseum have yet to
be discovered.

The third particular refers to the presence of an outsider in the
same hypogreum, of Q. Ennius the poet, who was born at Rudise
in Calabria in 289 b. c, and died in Rome at the age of seventy.
Although dwelling in a humble house on the Aventine, and sup-
porting himself by teaching the Greek language and translating
Greek plays for the Roman stage, he was the friend of the great,
and lived on terms of the closest intimacy with the elder Africanus.
Livy (xxxviii. 36) says that " in Scipionum moimmento extra
portam Capenam" three statues could be seen, one of which was
considered to represent the poet, and Cicero adds that the statue
was of marble. A laurel-crowned portrait head in peperino was
actually found in the tomb in 1780, and is now placed in the
Vatican Museum above the sarcophagus of Barbatus. " The un-
Roman type of countenance and the jiresence of the laurel wreath,
which might well be worn by a poet," have led many to attribute
this head to the statue mentioned by Livy and Cicero. The objec-
tion derived from the material in which it is carved (peperino
instead of marble) has no great weight. I have no doubt that
Cicero is mistaken in mentioning marble, because in the third
century b. c. portrait statues and busts were sculptured in Rome
out of stone.

Literature. — Giovanni Amaduzzi, Novelle letter, forentine, 1780-83. —
Gio. Battista Visconti, Antologia romana, vols, vi.-ix. — Louis Dutens, CEuvres
melees. Geneva, 1784. — Enrico Quirino Visconti, in Piranesi's Monumento
def/li Scipioni, Rome, 178.5 ; and Opere varie, Milan, 1827, voL i. pp. 1-70. —
Lanzi, Saggio di lingua etrusca, vol. i. p. 150. — Gaetani Marini, Atti A7-val., p.

THE COLUMBARIA OF POMPONIUS HYLAS 327

117, n. 109. — Carlo Fea, in Wiuckelmaiiii's Storia deW Arte, i. 30, and iii. 46.
— Antonio Jfibby, Roma antica, vol. ii. p. .561. — Corpus Iiiscr., vol.i. pp. 11-16,
n. 29-39 ; and vol. vi. p. 282, n. 1284-1294. — Wolfgang Helbig, Gtdde, vol. i.
p. 75, n. 127; and p. .356, n. 484.

Fig. 127. — Portrait Bust of Scipio the Elder (Capitoline Museum).

At the opposite end of the Vigiia Sassi, clo.se to the chapel of S.
Giovanni in Oleo and to the Porta Latiua, are to be seen —

III. The Columbaria (so-called) of Pomponius Hylas. Keys
with the custode of the tomb of the Scipios ; open every day except
Sunday.

This graceful structure, one of the best preserved of its kind in
Rome, was discovered by Pietro Campana in 1831. It is known
by the name of " Hylas and Vitaline," because the mosaic tablet
inscribed CN • pompoxi hylae — pomponiae • cn ■ l vitalinis

328 URBS SACRA REGIONVM XIV

occuj)ies the most conspicuous place opposite the entrance ; but
the fact is that it was built, like so many others of the Augustan
age, either by subscription among friends or relatives, or by specu-
lators ready to sell the cinerary urns to the first comer. The crypt
itself contains but twenty-two inscriptions, of no special interest.
One hundred and seventeen more were discovered in the neighbor-
hood, many of which are set into the modern wall inclosing the
tomb. It apj)ears from one of them (Corpus, n. 5631) that the
ground where this and the neighboring tombs are located belonged
to Cnseus Manlius Hasta, a freedman of the Manlii.

Some of the fediculse and niches for cinerary urns have been
elaborately decorated by the purchasers, though not often in good
taste. The decorations are mostly in bold relief of white stucco
on a colored ground, and represent various subjects, such as the
education of Achilles by Chiron, Oknos twisting the rope of
rushes while the ass eats it up, the tripos of the Delphic Apollo
between two griflBns (under the mosaic tablet of Hylas), Bacchic
scenes and dances, etc.

Literature. — Girolamo Amati, Codex vatic., 9770, p. 3, seq. — Antonio
Nibby, Roma antica, vol. ii. p. 556. — Pietro Campana, Di due sepolcri romnni
del secolo di Auejusto scoverti tra la via Laiina e V Appia. Rome, 1840, fol. —
Otto Jahn, Specimen epigraph, in memoriam Olai Kellermunn. Kiel, 1841. —
Corpus Inscr., vol. vi. n. 5539-5678.

IV. The Columbaria of the Vigna Codini. — The southeast
end of the necropolis, between the Vigna Sassi and the walls of
Aurelian, is occupied by the Vigna Codini, famous for the colum-
baria discovered within its limits since the renaissance of classical
studies. The first of which w^e have an account was found towards
the middle of the fifteenth century, and seems to have belonged to
the freedmen and servants of the sons of Nero Drusus senior,
brother of Tiberius, born 38 b. c, died a. d. 9. It contained at
least eighty-six inscriptions, which were bought by several amateurs
of the age — Giovanni Ciampolini, Paolo Alessi, and Francesco
Porcari. They have all perished except a dozen or so which were
removed from the Porcari House (Vicolo delle Ceste, No. 25) to
the Vatican by Gaetano Marini. Consult the " Corpus Inscr.," vol.
vi. p. 899, n. i'o'27-i4:lS. Other columbaria were excavated and
destroyed under Pius IV. (1559-66). Pirro Ligorio designed one
of them, belonging to the freedmen of the gens Pompeia ; and his
drawings have been reproduced by Pietro Sante Bartoli in plates
39-41 of the volume " Gli autichi sepolcri," Kome, 1768. Flaminio
Vacca speaks of a " magnificasepoltura" discovered and destroyed

THE COLUMBARIA OF THE VIGNA COD INI 329

by Cardinal Prospero Santacroce, f 1589,^ and of some sarcophagi,
inscribed Diis Maiiibus, of columns, architectural ornaments, and
other fragments which he himself bought in a vineyard near the
Porta Latina. Pietro Sante Bartoli likewise mentions the dis-
covery of pagan and Christian cemeteries near the junction of the
Ajipia and the Latina, in a vineyard of a certain Orlandi. Orlandi
had collected a very rich harvest in cameos, intaglios, cinerary urns
of glass, of marble, and of metal, figurines of bronze and terra
cotta, and other " cose bellissime," when Donna Olimpia Pamfili,
the omnipotent sister of the reigning Pope Innocent X., seized the
whole collection, and carried it in four cartloads to her own palace
in the Piazza Navona. Another excavation, described by Bartoli,
led to the discovery of a sepulchral room containing the cinerarium
of Asinia Fortunata (Corpus, n. 12,547).

In 1726-33 many columbaria (gran quantita di camere sepol-
crali ripiene di colomhaj) were excavated by Francesco Bevilacqua
near the boundary line with the Vigna Sassi. Ficoroni speaks of
many hundred urns of terra cotta and alabaster filled with incin-
erated remains, of inscriptions still retaining the red color of the
letters, of vases carved in marble, and of frescoes, one of which
represented the figure of an architect with the instruments (the
graphium, the pes, the square, the plummet) of his profession.
This interesting picture would have been destroyed like the others,
but for the prompt action of Marchese Alessandro Capponi, who
caused it to be removed from the wall, transferred to canvas,
framed, and afterwards engraved on copper. The original is now
preserved in the Kircherian ^Museum. Pier Leone Ghezzi adds
that the excavations of 1726 were carried on in both vineyards
at the same time, — in the Yigna Sassi at the expense of Herr
Wenkler of Leipzig, in the Vigna Codini at the expense of Signor
Garzia Muggiani, who then owned the property. The quantity of
tombs brought to light by these men is described as " prodigious."
The reader may appreciate the barbarous way in which antique
monuments were treated in those days from the fact that many of
the inscriptions discovered in 1726-33 have perished, and the few
spared are now dispersed far and wide, at Verona, A^enice, Lowther
Castle near Penrith, and at Rome itself in the Vatican and Kir-
cherian museums.

1 Cardinal Prospero is famous for having first introduced into Kome the tobacco
leaf, which was named from him erba santa, or erba santacroce. In memory
of this event Roman tobacconists used to put in the signs of their shops a white
cross, the coat of arms of the Santacroce family.

330 URBS SACRA REGIONUM XIV

Literature. — Francesco Ficoroni, La boUa d' oru, p. 47 ; and Memorie
(in Fea's Miscellanea, vol. i. p. cxxxiv. n. 33). — Pier Leone Ghezzi (in Bull,
arch, com., 1882, p. 206, n. 2 ; and p. 222, n. 60). — Theodor Schreiber, Die
Fundberichte des P. L. Ghezzi (in Bericliten der k. siichs. Gesellschaft d.
Wissenschaften, 1892, p. 111). — Corpus Jnscr., vol. vi. part ii. p. 968, n. .581.3-
5841.

Excavations were resumed in 1788, near the tomb of the Scipios ;
sixty-four inscriptions came to light, of wliich fourteen have per-
ished ; the others were removed to the Museo Borgia at Velletri
(now in the Museo Nazionale, Naples), to that of Palermo, of the
Vatican, etc. A few are to be seen on the spot. (Corpus Inscr.,
vol. vi. part ii. p. 968, u. 5679-5743.)

The three columbaria now visible in the Vigna Codini (entrance
Via di Porta S. Sebastiano, No. l-S, last door on the left) were dis-
covered respectively in 1S40, 1847, and 1853; the first and the sec-
ond by Pietro Campaua, the third by Codini himself. The colum-
barium opened in 1840 consists of one room deep under ground,
and accessible by a flight of twenty steps. It measures 7.50 by 5.65
metres, and has a massive pier in the centre, to which the weight
of the vaulted ceiling was intrusted. The ancient walls, 6.24
metres high, were covered with frescoes and arabesques represent-
ing birds and animals. The room contains 450 pigeonholes for
cinerary urns, and 'J97 inscriptions, dating inostly from the time
of Tiberius and Claudius. They afford nuich interest to the
student of Roman auti(|uities, and tlu'ow a considerable light on
the organization and nninagement of the Imperial household.

The trade in pigeonholes and cinerary urns appears to have
been very brisk. The iii'ns passed sometimes through several
hands. One, marked n. 4884 in the " Corpus," was sold by Porcius
Philargurus to Pinarius Ruf us, who in his turn sold it to Sotericus
Liicer. Pinarius Rufus is mentioned more than once as an active
stock-jobber, selling at a profit what he had purchased at low
price. It appears that to facilitate the approach to the upper rows
of niches — there are nine in all — the tomb was provided with
movable wooden balconies, supported by wooden brackets ; this is,
at least, the explanation suggested for the square holes visible
between the fourth and the fifth row. Inscription n. 4886 com-
memorates a buffoon of Tiberius, a mute, wdio tried to divert the
gloomy temper of his master by imitating the gesticulations of
lawyers pleading in the Forum. Another, marked 5076, contains
the fragment of a diary of a journey from the borderland of Cilicia
towards Cassarea in Cappadocia. The dates go from the 12th to

THE COLUMBARIA OF THE VIGNA CODINI

331

the 19tli of October, during which time the traveler proceeds from
Mopsuki-ene, a frontier station near the Cilician gates, to Tyana
and Audabalis on the side of Caesarea, a distance of seventy-seven
miles, according to the " Itinerary of Antoninus," or of eighty-
one miles, according to the Hierosolymitanum.

Literature. — Pietro Campana, D'l due sepolcrl romani del secolo di Au-
gusto, Tparte seconda. Rome, 1840. — Emil Braun, Colomhario scopei-to nella
vigna accanto a porta Latina (in Bull. Inst., 1840, p. 136). — Otto Jahn, Speci-
men epigraphiciim. Kiel, 1841, p. 28. — Corpus Inscr., vol. vi. part ii. p. 926, n.
4881-5178.

The second columbarium was discovered by Campana in Febru-
ary, 1847, not far from the preceding one. It consists of a plain
square room, with nine rows of pigeonholes in each wall, num-
bering 29.5 in all, with over 400 funereal tablets. Four inscrip-
tions (one of which is written on the floor in letters of mosaic)
tell the tale of the place. The columbarium was finished and the
urns divided among the shareholders of the company which had
built the place in the year a. d. 10, under the consulship of Sergius
Lentulus Malugiuensis and Q. Junius Blajsus. The pavement was
a private contribution of two shareholders, one a freedman of
Sextus Pompeius, son of Pompey the Great, the other a freedman
of C. Memmius. The majority of those whose ashes have found
rest in this room belong to the servants and freedmen of Marcella
the elder, who married Julius Antonius after her divorce with M.
Agrippa (21 b. c.) ; and of Marcella the younger, who had also
married twice, first Paullus ^Emilius Lepidus, and then M. Vale-
rius Messalla. Annexed to the columbaria were the iistrina, or
spaces set apart for the incineration of bodies. The indications
on this particular given by the inscribed stones allow us to recon-
struct a fragment of the plan of the necropolis, as follows : —

Laue (via, populus).

(No measure xiiij ft. xviii. ft.

given.)

Ustrinuin of , jj Ustrinuni of ^ Ustrinum of the

the College of I_b, Vitalis and UJ" corporation of

Musicians. rg Praepusa. '« wreath-makers.

Ustrinum

of the makers

of sacks.

Lane (via, populus).

Literature. — Wilhelm Henzeii, Bull. Iitgf., 1847, p. 49 ; and Ann. Inst..
1856, p. 9. — Corpus Inscr., vol. vi. part ii. p. 908, n. 4414-4880.

332 UUBS SACRA REG ION UM XI V

The third and last columbarium was discovered by Gio. Battista
Guidi ill May, 1852. The shape of the edifice differs considerably
from that of the preceding ones, and presents the appearance of

Fig. 128. — The Colmnb.irimu diseovei'ed in tlie Vigua Codiiii, Ma}', 185'2.

a corridor the three wings of which follow each other at right
angles. The stairs occupy the end of the wing parallel with the
Via Appia, while the opposite wing terminates with a crypt exca-

THE COLUMBARIA OF THE VIGNA COD INI 333

vated in the live rock. The bones and skulls which filled it up at
the time of the discovery were considered to belong to slaves
of the lowest order, whose remains had been thrown into the den
as if they were carrion. The walls of the corridor are divided
into compartments by means of pilasters with capitals of the
composite order (Fig. 128). The niches for cineraria are not
arched, as usual, but square, and contain four urns each. The
characteristic of this " cooperative tomb," so evident in our illus-
tration, is a set of marble brackets which project from the walls
between the fourth and fifth row of niches, counting from tlie
floor. They were destined to support the temporary wooden bal-
cony by means of which the relatives and friends of the deceased
could reach the upper tiers of niches on anniversary days, when
the urns were decorated with flowers, libations were offered, and
other ceremonies were performed. This sepulchral chamber ap-
pears to have been tenanted by a better and wealthier set of people
than the otlier two. INIany were freedmen of the ,Tulian dynasty
from the age of Augustus and Livia to that of Claudius. The
last places seem to have been occupied under the last-named
Emperor. The room was entered again under Trajan and Ha-
drian, and a few liberti Ulpii and vElii laid to rest on the only
vacant space left, viz., on the floor. This has been more or less
the fate of all Roman columbaria. It seems that at one time,
towards the middle of the second century, no more room could be
found within reasonable distance from the city for the erection of
sepulchral chambers, or else that the price of land had reached a
prohibitory figure above the means of the poorer classes. Old
columbaria were therefore reopened, as res nullius, and new corpses
crammed within their precincts. I remember having seen in the
excavations of the necropolis by the Porta Maggiore one or two
columbaria of the Statilian family, which had been used again as
a burial-place when their pavement was already covered by a bed
of rubbish tliree feet thick. Some of the terra-cotta coffins had
been simply laid on this newly made ground, other bodies liad been
buried in it.

Literature. — Emil Braun, Bull. Inst., 1852, p. 82. — Wilhelm Hen-
zen, Annal. Inst., 185G, p. 18. — Corpus Inscr., vol. vi. part ii. p. 9;i9, ii. 5179-
5538.

In the triangle between the vife Latina and Appia and the walls
of Aurelian, in fact, in the vigne Sassi and Codini alone, 15.59
tombstones have already been found, not counting those of the

334 URBS SACRA REGIONUM XIV

Scipios, one twentieth perhaps of the oi'iginal number. The ex-
ploration is far from being complete.

Before leaving this conspicuous section of the Ronian necropolis
I must mention two monuments which connect it with the early
days of Christianity.

While Pietro Campana was searching the ground in his fii'st
attempt of 1840, a cubiculum was discovered the paintings of
which represented Biblical scenes. The Pastor Bonus was given
the place of honor in the middle of the vault, while Moses striking
the rock, the feeding the five thousand, the raising of Lazarus,
and a fourth uncertain subject were painted on the four lunettes.
Three sides of the room were occupied by arcosolia, the fourth by
the door. The paintings of the arcosolia represented the " Orante "
(a woman praying with hands raised), Daniel in the den of lions,
Noah and the ark. The figures of the paralytic and of Job were
represented on each side of the door. Two inscriptions were
found in front of two arcosolia, one of which, written in a patois
half Greek half Latin, bore the name of a Veratius Nikatoras
(BHPAT10T2 NIKATOPA2) and ended with the sentence, O BIOS
TATTA, " this is life," vita hoc est ! This Veratius was a Galatian,
as is proved by the discovery made by George Perrot near Ancyra
of the tombstone of his wife, which ends with the same words,
o fiios ravTa. Now it seems certain that this particular plot of the
necro[)olis was destined for foreigners who died in Rome. De
Rossi discovered here in 1883 the broken epitaph of one of the
faithful from Smyrna, and Campana the tombstone of another
from the borderland of Cappadocia and Armenia. The impor-
tance of the discovery lies in the fact that the crypt adorned with
Christian paintings must be older than the walls of Aurelian
(272), contemporary, in fact, with some of the pagan mausoleums
by which it is surrounded. This remarkable monument is lost.
Campana concealed its discovery from De Rossi, and revealed it
only many years aftei'wards, when he had lost the memory of its
exact position. De Rossi tried in vain to rediscover it in 1884.

Literature. — Gio. Battista de Rossi, Bull, crist., 1884-85, pp. 57, 58; and
1886, pp. 14, 17. — Raffaele Garrucci, Monumenti del museo lateran., pi. 1,
n. 3; and Arte cristiana, tav. 484, 10. — Compare, also, Gian Pietro Secchi,
Monumenti inediti d' nn antico sepolcro. Rome, Salviucci, 1843.

The second Christian monument of this region is to be found
on the opposite side of the Yigna Sassi, under the farmhouse of
the Vigna Pallavicini. Mariano Armellini rediscovered it in 1875,

THE C^LIAN HILL 335

all traces of it having been lost since the days of Agiucourt. It
is an ancient crj^jt dedicated to Gabriel the archangel, and also to
the memory of the " seven sleepers " of Ephesus. It was entirely
covered with frescoes representing Gabriel with his hands raised
in the attitude of prayer, the Redeemer among hosts of angels,
Greek saints of both sexes, and seven tiny reclining figures under
that of the Saviour, which were considered to be the '• sette dor-
mienti." The frescoes had been executed in the eleventh century
at the expense of Beno de Rapiza and of his wife ]\Iaria Macellaria,
the same to whom we owe the paintings of S. Clemente and of
S. Urbano alia CaffareUa. It seems that in those days the Greek
legend, which had transformed the " sleep of the just," the " dor-
mitio in Domino," of the seven young Ephesians into an actual
state of catalepsy, had already found its way to Rome, and struck
the imagination of the people. Tlieir anniversary feast fell on
the 27th day of July. The " cavern of the sleepers " is now used
as a pig-sty.

Literature. — Alberto Cassio, Corso delle acqtie antiche, Rome, 17-57, p.
28. — Dissertatio de SS. septem dormientihus. Rome, 1741. ^ Mariano Avmel-
liiii, Scopertd di tin' antico oratono presso In ria Ajjpia dedlcato tdl' arcungelo
Gabriele. Rome, 1875.

ReGIO II. C.EMMOXTIUM.

V. The C.ELIAN Hill was named Querquetulanus in the early
days of Rome, from the trees (quercioli, oaks) which clothed its
eastern slope, as the opposite or western slope of the Esquiline
was named Mons Fagutalis from the beeches (fagi) by which it
was shaded. The name of Cailian was subsequently adopted in
memory of the Etruscan lucumo Cieles.or Cselius Vibenna, who
had settled with his followers on the hill at the time of Servius
Tullius. An attempt was made under Tiberius to change the
name into that of Mons Augustus because, during a terrible con-
flagration in the year a. d. 27, which desti-oyed hundreds of houses
and palaces, the only object respected by the flames was a statue
of the Emperor placed in the vestibule of the palace of the Junii.

A spm- of the hill, crowned by a shrine of Diana, was called
Cseliolus, or minor Cjelius. Topographers disagree as to its posi-
tion. Ficoroni and otliers place it at the Monte d' Oro, Canina
at the SS. Quattro, Brocchi on the site of the Villa Wolkonsky,
Nibby on the site of S. Gregorio.' The hill and the spur were
included in the first region of Servius, Suburana.

1 Consult: Stefano Piale, Delle parte meridioitall di Servio, del vera sito

336 UBBS SACRA REGIONUM XIV

Augustus in his reform of 10-4 b. c. made of the Cfelian the
second region of the city. At the time of Constantine it con-
tained 7 parishes (vici), 3600 tenement houses, 127 palaces, 85
public baths, 65 public fountains, and 15 bakeries. The most
curious feature consisted in the fact of its being at the same time
a district of barracks (with the customary annexes, drinking and
gambling dens, lupanaria, etc.) and a district of aristocratic
palaces.

VI. The Castra C^limontana. — The list of barracks
includes —

A. The Castra Equitum Singularium, a select body of
horsemen, who, like our life-guards, cent-gardes, or cuirassiers
du roi, were employed in the personal service of the Emperor.
They were lodged in two splendid barracks, the castra vetera
and the castra nova. The first were discovered between 1885 and
1887 in the Via Tasso, in the grounds of the Villa Giustiniani ;
the second in 1733 and 1734, in the foundations of the Cappella
Corsini at the Lateran. Both barracks were magnificently deco-
rated with statues, busts, altars, and works of art of every de-
scription, among which were the Bacchus in the Maraini House,
illustrated by Visconti in " Bull, com.," 1886, p. 166, pi. 6, and
the marble seat in the Corsini Library, considered to have been
chiseled by a Greek artist. The equites singulares were sub-
stituted for the old German bodyguard (collegium Germanorum,
Germani corporis custodes) about the time of the Flavians, and
were likewise recruited among the semi-barbarians of the estuary
of the Rhine and of the Lower Danube, the Thracians being pre-
ferred to all other nationalities. The regiment, one thousand
sti-ong, was placed under the command of the prcefectus prcetorio.

Literature. — Wilhelm Henzen, Ann. Inst., 1850, p. 5; and 1885, p. 235.—
Theodor Mommsen, Ephem. epir/r., vol. v. p. 233; Hermes, vol. xvi. p. 459, 4;
and KorrespondenzUaU der Westdeutschen Zeitschrift, 1886, pp. 50, 123. —
Rodolfo Lanciani, Bull. arch, com., 1885, p. 37; 1886, p. 94; and Notizie
Scavi, 1885, p. 524; 1886, pp. 12, 48; 1887, p. 139; 1888, p. 566. — Orazio
Marucchi, Btdl. arch, com., 1886, p. 124. — Carlo Ludovico Visconti, BiiU.
arch, com., 1886, p. 166, pi. 6.— Corpus Inscr., vol. vi. n. 224-228, and p. 766,
n. 3173-3323. — Francesco Ficoroni, Memorie (in Fea's Miscellanea, vol. i.
n. 46).

B. The Castra Peregrinorum. — AVhatever may have been

del Celiolo. Rome, 1824. — Bunsen, etc., Beschreibung, >, p. 478. — Antonio
Nibby. Roma antica, A'ol. i. p. 19.

THE BARRACKS OF THE C^ELIAN 337

the original scope of the institution of a special body of men called
milites perefjrini (foreigners) and of their associates the milites
fruvientarii (coanmissariat), tliere is no doubt that towards the
beginning of the second century after Christ the peregrin! per-
formed the duties of the modern gendarmes or carabinieri, while
the frumentarii had become secret police agents or detectives.
They were employed to carry disx^atches, to act as spies and
informers, and to make arrests. The biographer of Hadrian says
that he knew all the secrets of the Imperial household and of his
friends with the help of the frumentarii : " per frumentarios
omnia occulta explorabat " (Vita Iladriaui, c. 6). They were the
chief agents in the persecutions of the Christians, as described by
Cyprianus and Jerome. Prisoners of state were also intrusted
to their custody ; Cnodomer, king of the Germans, made prisoner
in the battle of Strasburg and brought to Rome, is said to have
died " in castris peregrinis, qua- in Monte Cselio sunt." The fru-
mentarii and the peregrin! were commanded by an officer called
" princeps." The body was suppressed by Diocletian as " pestilen-
tial " and replaced by another called agentes in rebus.

The barracks were placed in the neighborhood of S. Maria in
Dominica, but we do not know exactly where. In March, 1848,
an inscription describing the baths of the barracks was discovered
in situ, but Matranga, who illustrated it in the " Bull. Inst." of the
same year, p. 39, keeps the secret of the find to himself, and only
mentions in general terms " una vigna rimpetto S. Maria in Navi-
cella." The barracks were discovered partly about 15.50, partly
under the pontificates of Innocent X. (1644-55) and Clement X.
(1670-76). Ligorio (Torin., vol. xv. p. 127) describes them as
divided into two sections or quadrangles (one for the frumentarii,
one for the peregrini?), and as occupying the space between the
aqueduct of Nero, S. Stefano Rotondo, and la Navicella. Holste-
nius places them between the aqueduct, S. Stefano Rotondo, and
the hospital of S. Giovanni, and describes one of the rectangles as
lined with cells, flanked by towers and walls 1.20 metre thick, and
containing in the middle of the court a round temple with columns
of porphyry and oriental granite. The works of art, statues, and
busts discovered in the excavations of 1550 were probably removed
to the house of Ascanio Magarozzi, where Ulisse Aldovi-andi saw-
and described them in 15.53. The account which approaches near-
est the truth, and settles the question of site, is jjerhaps that of
Pietro Sante Bartoli (Mem. 55). He says that under Innocent X.
and Clement X. great excavations were made in the garden of

338 URBS SACRA REGIONUM XIV-

Teofilo Sartori, Via di S. Stefano Rotondo, viz., on the site of the
present military hospital (Villa Casali) ; that rows of cells {ima
filara di botteghe) were uncovered pertaining to the Castra Pere-
grina, as well as great halls and mess-rooms, com-ts lined with
colonnades, the shafts of which were of "bellissima breccia,"
statues, busts, heads, and various ornaments of metal incrusted
with silver, which Bartoli thinks belonged to a triumphal arch.
Here also was found the pedestal (Corpus, vi. 231) dedicated genio

SANCTO CASTRORVM PEKEGRINORVM.

Literature. — Pin-o Ligorio, Cod. torin., xv. p. 127. — Lucas Holstenius,
Cod. vatic, 9141. — P. Sante Bartoli, Mem. 55 (in Fea's MiscelL, voL i. p.
ccxxxv.). — Willielm Heuzen, Bull. Inst., 1851, p. 113. — Pietro Matranga,
Bull. Inst., 1849, p. .34. — Gio. Battista de Rossi, Le stazioni delle coortl del
Vif/ili, ]). 28; and La basilica di S. Stefano rotondo, etc., p. 9 (in Studii e
docuni. di storia e diritto, vol. vii. 1886).

C. Static cohortis v vigilum (barracks of the fifth battalion
of firemen and policemen), on the platform of the Villa Celimon-
tana, formerly belonging to the Mattel dukes of Giove, and now
to Baron Richard von Hoffmann. In Januarjr, 1820, two marble
pedestals were found near the gate of the villa, standing in their
original position on a tessellated jjavement which formed part of
the vestibule. The rolls of the battalion, name by name, were
engraved upon them. The first pedestal had no dedicatory inscrip-
tion ; the second (and the statue upon it) were offered to Caracalla
in the year 210 by C. Julius Quintilianus, prefect of police, M.
Firmius, adjutant-general, L. Speratius Justus, colonel of the fifth
battalion, the captains commanding the seven companies, the four
physicians and sui'geons attached to the barracks, etc. The last
names engraved on the front of the pedestal are those of the cap-
tain and of the standard-bearer of the first company, the trustees
of the fund subscribed towards the erection of the statue. The
importance of these two documents, however, comes from the I'oUs
of the rank and file. " In the year 205, which is the approximate
date of the first pedestal, the battalion numbered 113 officers and
sub-officers, and 930 men. In the year 210 the number of the
former had decreased to 109, the number of the latter had increased
to 1013. Taking as the average strength of a battalion 1033 men
all told, the whole police of the metropolis must have numbered
7231 men." ^ The pedestals are still to be seen in the Villa Mattei
at the entrance of the celebrated avenue of ilexes between the
Casino and the obelisk. Luigi Rossini asserts that in the excava-
1 Ancient Home, p. 228.

THE LATER AN PALACE 339

tions of 1820 the prison of the barracks was also found, " as proved
"by the chains still fixed to its walls." Students are kindly allowed
to visit the Villa Mattel on Thursdays.

Literature. — Olaus Kellermaun, Vigilum latercula duo ccelimmitana.
Rome, 1835. — Gio. Battista de Rossi, Le stazioni delle sette coorti dei Vigili,
p. 27 (in Anual. Inst., 1858).— Corpus Insci:, vol. vi. n. 221, 222, 1057, 1058.
— P. Saute Bartoli, Mem. 79 (in Fea's Miscell., vol. i. p. ccxlii.). — Luigi
Rossini, / sette colli, n. 1-3. Rome, 1829.

Connected with the bari'acks of the Cfelian hill were the Lupa-
naria, mentioned in the catalogues of the second region, probably
a state establishment, the site of which corresponds with that of
the Vigna Colacicchi, as shown by the discovery of some charac-
teristic mosaic pavements made there in 1878.

VII. The Palaces ok the C.elian : —

A. DoMUS Lateraxorum — Egkegi.e Lateraxorum .(Edes
(Lateran palace). It is a cm-rent opinion that after the execution
of Plautius Lateranus in a. d. 66 for his share in the plot of the
Pisones, his magnificent palace on the Cselian was confiscated by
Nero, and the grounds were added to the Imperial domain of the
Domus Aiirea. No classic historian speaks of such a confiscation ;
on the contrary, we are informed by one of them that T. Sextius
Lateranus, consul in 196, was offered large sums of money by
Septimius Severus, with the help of which he restored the paternal
estate on the Ctelian. This account is confirmed by the discovery
made in 1.59.5 of water-pipes inscribed with the names of Sextius
Lateranus and of his brother Torquatus. Another water-pipe,
bearing the name of Mamnifea, mother of the Emperor Severus
Alexander, found among the ruins of the palace in 1890, seems to
prove that the palace had become state property only under the
rule of the last (a. d. 222-23.5). It remained so until the time of
Constantine, who offered part, or perhaj^s the whole, of it to Pope
jNIiltiades in 313 ; this, at least, is the date of a council of bishops
convened in the palace under the presidency of the pope. Perhaps
it was only a case of a loan, as we find the palace called " Domus
Faustse," the house of Fausta, at a later date.^ I do not yet under-
stand clearly myself what happened in those days, how the trans-
ference of property from the Crown to the Church was made, and
which portion was transformed into a Christian basilica, " omnium
ecclesiarum urbis et orbis mater et capiit." The difficulty arises

1 Fausta, second wife of Constantine, was smothered by her husband's order
in .326, and her stepson Crispus was executed on the same daj'.

340 URBS SACRA REGION UM XIV

from the fact that the area of the basilica is cut in two by a
Roman street, which runs parallel with the transept of Clement
VIII. {nave Clementina), passes under the canopy of Urban V.,
and leads to a postern in the walls of Aui'elian still visible in the
garden " dei Penitenzieri." The ruins east of this ancient street
are " oriented " with it ; those on the other side form an angle of
31°. There were therefore two distinct and independent palaces, —
one on each side of the street. The one on the west was certainly
tlie palace of the Laterans ; the one on the east might possibly be
identified with the " castra nova equitum singularium," epigraphic
records of which have been found under the Corsini chapel. The
nave and aisles of the church would occupy in this case the site of
one of the courts of the barracks ; while the transept and the apse
woidd occupy the site of the atrium of the palace. I need not
remind the reader that the name of St. John the Lateran is com-
paratively recent, the basilica having been dedicated originally to
the Redeemer alone.

Many discoveries have taken place east of the street mentioned
above. In 1732 Alessandro (ialilei, the architect of Clement XII.,
whilst building the new facade, found walls, cells, water-pipes, and
other remains. In the following year the excavations extended to
the site of the cappella Corsini, and to the vacant space between
the chapel and the walls of the city. Splendid remains of the
barracks and of their annexes were found everywhere,^ with other
sections of the watei'-pipes mentioned before, bearing the name of
M. Opellius Macrinus, prefect of the praetorium, and Commander-
in-Chief of the equites singulares. Other walls, decorated with
frescoes of no special value, came to light in 1838 in the founda-
tions of the " sala capitolare " behind the Lancellotti cliapel. In
style of masonry, in age, and in direction they correspond exactly
to the remains discovered by Rohault de Fleury and by myself in
the cellars of the palace of the pope (Sixtus V.) on the other side
of the church. -

More important are the finds obtained at various epochs among
the remains of the " egregife Lateranorum sedes," on the opposite
side of the street. Flavio Biondo describes those of the time of
Eugenius IV. (1431-47) on the site of the monastery, west of the

1 Literature. — See p. 336 and Eidolfino Venuti, Descriz. di Roma, ed.
1803, p. 179. — Lupi, Epitaph, sanctce Severce, p. 43. — Francesco Ficoroni,
Gemmm litteratce, p. 126. — Corpus Inscr., vol. vi. n. 22.5, 226.

2 Emil Braun, Bull. Inst., 1838, p. 6. — Rohault de Fleury, Le Latran au
moyen dr/e. (Plan general.) — Rodolfo Lanciani, Forma Urbis, pi. xxxvii.

THE LATE RAN PALACE

341

cloisters of Vassalectus ; and speaks of halls the pavements of which
were 5.34: metres lower than that of the church, of colonnades,
statues, etc. Flaminio Vacca says that when Clement VIII.
removed and destroyed in 1595 the old presbyterium (un certo
rialzo innanzi al coro), three large niches were found, pertaining

342 URBS SACRA REGIONUM XIV

to an "edifizio antichissimo e nobilissimo," the pavements of which
were incrusted with porphyry and serpentine. Filippo Martinucci
discovered in 1853 the pavement of the street under the canopy of
Urban V., as related above. Costantino Corvisieri excavated in
1873 the neighborhood of the Baptistery. Pius IX. and Leo XIII.,
whilst destroying the Constantinian apse and building the new
one, with the sacristry and the chapter-house (1877-90), brought
to light other remains, described by Stevenson in the " Annal.
Inst.," 1877, pis. R, S, T, and represented in the above view (Fig.
129). I have tried to express as well as I could the results of all
these excavations in sheet No. xxxvii. of the " Forma Urbis."
The level of this part of the palace was 7.50 metres lower than
that of the church.

Nothing is left visible of the old Constantinian Basilica except
a few bits of the walls which support the roof of the nave. When
Borromini inflicted upon the nave itself the present hideous trans-
formation, and encased the columns dividing the nave from the
aisles in a coating of bricks, he left patches of the original walls
visible in a set of oval panels between the windows. The ovals
are now concealed by indifferent paintings on canvas. However,
there is at least one set of precious relics of Constantine's age
which has escaped destruction but not transformation : I refer to
the four large fluted bronze columns of the Corinthian order which
adorn the Altare del Sacramento, at the south end of the transept.
The guide-books of Rome have suggested various theories about
them, the current belief being that they belonged in days gone by
to the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. Others contend that they
were cast under Augustus with the 'bronze beaks of the ships cap-
tured in the battle of Actium; others that they were removed
from Solonion's Temple, etc. The columns are mentioned for the
first time under Constantine, who offered them to the Church to be
used as " pharocautharoi " ^ on either side of the altar. Clement
VIII. and Pietro Paolo Olivieri, his architect, found them seriously
injured and without capitals ; Orazio Censori, the pope's brass-
founder, was asked therefore to make a tour through the cities of
southern Etruria and try to collect antique objects of bronze.
Hundreds of tombs must have been rifled of their invaluable
treasures ; at Corneto alone Censori gathered 665 pounds of
metal, and a great deal more at Civita Castellana (Falerii). The
treasures were melted together with pieces of the bronze beams
of the Pantheon, and the metal was employed in casting three
1 Lighthouses, or pillars supporting a circle of lights on the capitals.

THE LATE RAN PALACE

343

capitals, the whole cornice and pediment of the altar, sixteen
doves, sixteen stars, and two angels. It was lucky that the bronze
masterpieces formerly in the Campus Lateranensis (Piazza di S.
Giovanni) had been removed to a place of safety since the times
of Sixtus IV. and Paul III., otherwise they would probably have
shared the fate of the bronzes from Tarquinii and Falerii.

The mediaeval collection of bronzes at the Lateran comprised
the equestrian statue of M. Aurelius, removed by Paul III. to the
Piazza del Campidogiio in 1538 ; the she-wolf ; the colossal hand
with the globe ; the Zingara or Camillus ; the head of young
Nero (?), removed to the Palazzo dei Conservatori by Sixtus IV. ;
and the " lex regia," now in the Capitoline Museum. The follow-
ing sketch by Martin Heemskerk represents tlie Campus Late-
ranensis about 1531, with the statue of M. Aurelius in its proper

Fig. 130. — Campus Lateraneusis, about 1534.

place. The four columns in the foreground supported a slab of
marble wliich was thought to mark the height of the Saviour.
Heemskerk's view has already been published by T. Springer, in
1885.1

Literature for the Lateran Palace. — Louis Duchesne, Le liber
pontijicalis, vol. i. passim. — Rohault de Fleury, Le Lntran au moyen age.
Paris, 1877. — Giovanni Ciampini, De saci-is (Bdificiis a Constantino magno
extructis. Rome, 1693. — Cesare Rasponi, Be basilica et patriarchio Late-
ranensi. Rome, 1656. — Nicola Alemanni, De Lateranensibus parietinis.
Rome, 17.56. — Eugene MUntz, Les arts a la cour des papes, vol. iii. passim.
— Rodolfo Lanciani, Bull. Inst., 1870, p. 50 ; and Itinerario di Einsiedlen, pp.
70 and 102. — Enrico Stevenson, Scoperte di antichi edijizi al Laterano {in

1 In Gesammelte Studien zur Kunstgeschichte : eineFestgabe zum iMai 1885.
Fiir Anton Springer, Leipzig, 1885.

344 URBS SACRA REGION UM XIV

Annal. Inst., 1877); and Topogrnfia e momcmenti dl Roma in-Ue piltnre di Sisto
v., etc., plate iv. n. 2.

The bronzes formerly in the Lateran are illustrated in Annnl. Inst., 1877,
p. 381. — Riim. Mittheilimyen, vol. vi. 1891, p. 14. — Refue archeol., xliii.
1882, pp. 20, 28. — Wolfgang Heli)ig, Guide to the Coll. of Class. Antiquities,
vol. i. p. 402, n. 538 ; p. 454, n. 612, etc.

B. DoMUS Vectiliana, a favorite resort of the Emperor Corn-
modus, whither he used to repair when sufteriug from insomnia,
and where he was strangled in a. d. 192. Its site is not known,
but it cannot have been very far from the Lateran. The eques-
trian statue of Marcus Aurelius, of which we hear for the first
time in a. d. 966 (when Peter, prefect of Rome, was hung by the
hair from the horse for his rebellion against John XIII.), must
have come from this Domus Vectiliana. The house was certainly
discovered at the time of Ficoroni, about 1735, by a man named
Giuseppe Mitelli, but the site of the excavation is indicated only
by thev ague formula " nell' estremita del Monte Celio " (at the
extreme point of the Cselian hill).

The family of M. Aurelius and Commodus was closely con-
nected with that of the Annii. Annia Faustina the elder, wife of
Antoninus Pius ; Annia Faustina the younger, wife of M. Aure-
lius; Annia Cornificia, his sister; Annius Verus, his son; Annia
Lucilla, his daughter, have made the name illustrious in the
annals of the Empire. By a singular coincidence we find a
Domus Anniorum on the Cselian, close to the supposed site of
the Vectiliana in which Commodus was assassinated. One of
the new streets of the Cselian, the Via Annia, has been named
from it. The house is distinctly mentioned by the biographer of
M. Aurelius, chapter i. : " Marcus was born on the Cselian hill, in
the family villa (Jiurti) in the year (a. d. 121) in which his grand-
father Annius Verus was consul with Augur. . . . He was educated
in the villa in which he was born, as well as in the palace of his
grandfather, near that of the Laterans." The palace of Annius
Verus was discovered for the last time in 1885-87, on the site of
the present military hospital (Villa Casali).

LiTEUATURE. — 5m?Z. arch. com., 1885, pp. 95, 104, 166, 175, 176-; 1866, pp.
50, 93, 109, 278, 342, 369, 405 ; 1887, pp. 27, bl.—Notizie derjli Scavi, 1885-89,
passim. See index. Villa Casali.

C. Domus Tetricorum. — C. Pesuvius Tetricus, one of the
" thirty tyrants," and the last secessionist ruler of Gaul (a. d.
267-274), was defeated by Aurelian at the battle of Chalons, and
obliged to grace the triumph of the conqueror with his presence.

THE PALACE OF THE VALERU 345

After the tiiuiuph he was treated with kindness and distinction
by Aurelian. The biographer who wrote the " Tyranni Triginta "
in the first decade of the fourth century says, " The palace of the
Tetrici, one of the most beautiful in the city, is still to be seen on
the Cailian, in the street called ' inter duos lucos,' oi^posite the
Temple of Isis Metellina." The site was indicated in the Middle
Ages by a church of 8. Maria inter duo or inter duas, which stood
in the valley between the Ctelian and the Esquiline (cf. Armellini,
Chiese, p. 1-10).

1). DoMiT.s Valekiorum. — There was on the Cselian, between
IS. .Stefano Kotondo and the Lateran, a palace belonging to the
descendants of the Valerii Poplicohv, namely, to Valerius Severus,
prefect of Konie in a. d. ;58(J, and to his son Pinianus, husband of
Melania the younger. The palace was so beautiful, and contained
so much wealth, that when Pinianus and Melania, grieved by the
loss of all their children, put it up for sale in 404, they found none
willing to X3urchase it : " ad tarn magnum et mirabile opus acce-
dere nemo ausus fecit." Seven or eight years after the capture of
Rome by Alaric, August, 410, the same palace was given away for
little or nothing, " domus pro nihilo venumdata est," having been
" dissipata et quasi incensa " by the barbarians. There must be
some inaccuracy in this account, which Commendatore de Rossi
has found in a MS. of the library of Chartres. In the first place,
a considerable part of the j^i'operty was transformed into a hos-
pice and a hospital under the title of " Xenodochium Valeriorum "
or " a Valeriis," which flourished until the ninth century, and the
transformation must have been the work of Pinianus himself and
not of an outsider. In the second place, the house w^as discovered
in 1554, 1561, and 1711 in such a wonderful state of preservation
that we must exculpate the Goths from the charge of having pil-
laged and gutted it in 410. The account of the find sounds like a
fairy tale. When the workmen entered the atrium of the palace
in the first excavations of 1554 and 1561, the deeds and records of
the family, engraved on bronze tablets, still hung to the columns
of the peristyle. The tablets contained mostly decrees in honor of
the Valerii, or treaties of friendship witli their house passed by the
corporations of Zama, Hadrumetum, Thenae, and other cities of
Africa. Four pedestals of statues dedicated to Valerius Aradius
by the corporations of the grocers, bakers, etc., were discovered
under the portico. The excavations were stopped perhaps for
fear of undermining the church and the monastery of S. Erasmus,
or whatever was left standing of this celebrated abbey, the medi-

346 URBS SACRA REGIONUM XIV

reval representative of the old Xenodochium a Valeriis. Under
the pontificate of Innocent X. (1644-55), when no traces were left
of S. Erasmo, the atrium of the jaalace was entered again, and
seven " bellissime statue " were brought to light, among them two
fauns dancing to the sound of the Kp6Ta\a ; they were purchased
by Monsignor Mazarino. The experiment was tried again under
Clement X. (1670-76) with equal success. Bartoli mentions
statues and busts, among them two of Lucius Verus bought by
Cardinal de Bouillon ; the group of Cvipid and Psyche, now in the
Galleria degli Uffizi ; the finest specimens of fresco paintings ever
seen in Rome; columns of rare breccias; and the bronze lamp
representing a ship with the figure of our Lord at the helm, also
in the L^ffizi at Florence.

Literature. — Corpus Jnscr., vol. vi. n. 1684-94. — Pietro Sante Bartoli,
Mem. 53, 54 (in Fea's Miscellanea, vol. i. p. ccxxx.). — Pietro Bellori, Lucerne
antiche, p. 11. — Gio. Batt. de Rossi, II monastero di S. Erasmo e la casa dei
Valerii sul Celio (in Studi e docum. di Storia e Diritto. vol. vii. 1886; and
Bull, com., 1890, p. 288). — Giacomo Lumbroso, Notizie di Cassiano dal Pozzo.
Torino, 1875, p. 50.

E. DoMus Philippi, probably of the Emperor M. Julius Phi-
lippus (a. d. 244-249), which he must have acquired while prefect
of the Prsetorium. The only clue in regard to its position is
given by an altar (Corpus Inscr., vi. 150) dedicated by a " servus
Philipporum " to a local spring, which was found in the slope of
the Villa Mattel, towards the Marrana. Near the same place a
statue was discovered in 1747 representing a hunter with a hare
in the right hand, which Ennio Quirino Visconti attributes to the
age of the Philippi. The statue, signed by the artist (Polytimvs
lib), is now exhibited in the Capitoline Museum.

Literature. — Fieoroni, Mem. 91 (in Fea's Miscellanea, vol. i. p. clxiii.).
— E. Quirino Visconti, Catnlogo del museo Jenlcins, p. 22. — Pierre Aube, Le
Christianisme de I'emp. Philippe (in Revue arch., vol. ix. 1880, p. 140). —
Wolfgang Helbig, Guide to the Collections (^Antiquities, vol. i. p. 370, n. 506
(27).

F. DoMus L • Marii • Maximi, discovered in February, 1708,
in the Villa Fonseca. It contained the pedestals of statues (Cor-
pus Inscr., vol. vi. n. 1450, 1451) dedicated to him, the first by
an officer of the third legion, Cyrenaica ; the second by a friend,
Pompeius Alexander. Other pedestals from the same noble man-
sion are described by the " Corpus," n. 1452, 145.3.

G. DoMus OF THE Symmachi, discovered in 1617 in the gar-
den of Sartorio Teofili, afterwards included in the Villa Casali.

THE PALACE OF THE SYMMACHT 347

L. Aiirelius Avianius Symmachus, the great scholar, statesman,
and orator of the latter half of the fourth century, proconsul of
Africa in 373, prefect of the city in 381-386, consul in 391, speaks
of this paternal house on the Cselian in Ejiist. 18 of Book vii. :
" de Formiano regressus in Larem C«lium." Compare Epist. iii.
12, 88. Although constantly exposed to danger and disgrace, as
leader of the pagan side of the Senate, he never diverged from
his path. Having been delegated by the House in 382 to remon-
strate with the Emperor Gratian on the removal of the altar of
Victory from their council hall, and on the curtailment of the
sums annually allowed for the maintenance of the Vestal Virgins,
he was ordered by the indignant Emperor to withdraw from his
presence and to i-etire to his villa at Formije ; and yet, two years
later, we find him prefect of Rome, and engaged in rebuilding
with unusual magnificence the bridge now called Ponte Sisto (see
p. 24). Among the objects discovered in the excavations of 1617
we find the pedestal of a statue dedicated to him by his own son,
and a second set up in honor of his father-in-law Virius Nico-
machus Flavianus, another great leader of the pagan faction. The
ruins were searched again in 1885-87.

I do not remember having ever seen such a scene of devastation
as that presented by the remains of this palace of the Symmachi
and of the Nicomachi. Columns, pedestals, statues seem to have
been purposely hammered and ground into atoms. The headless
female statue of gray basalt, now in Hall V of the Museo ]\Iunici-
pale al Celio, was put together by us in 1896 out of seventy-four
pieces. If we remember that basalt was a worthless material to
the destroyers of ancient Rome, unfit for the lime-kiln and too
hard to be worked anew, we must find another reason for their
treating that noble figure so wantonly. The explanation is given,
if I am not mistaken, by the discovery of another statue broken
into one hundred and fifty-one pieces, which represented the Vic-
tory. When the pagan faction was put down forever at the battle
of September 6, 394, in which the usurper Eugenius and Nico-
machus Flavianus lost their lives, the recollection of the duel
fought before Valentinian II. and Theodosius, between S. Ambrose
on the Christian and Symmachus on the pagan side, on account
of the statue of Victory, was still fresh in the minds of the people.
No wonder that, on hearing the news of the battle, and of the
decisive collapse of the party led by the Symmachi and by the
Nicomachi, the populace should have pillaged their palace on
the Cfelian and satisfied their desire for vengeance.

348

URBS SACRA REG I ON UM XIV

From this point of view the statue, which we have recalled to
life out of one hundred and fifty-one fragments, and exhibited in
the Hall II of the above-named museum, is one of the great his-
torical monuments of the fourth century.

Literature. — Corpus Jnscr., vol. vi. n. 1699, 1782. — Angelo Mai, Script,
vett. nova collectio, vol. i. append, pp. xviii.-xxiv. — Morel, in Revue archeoL,
June, 1868. — Rodolfo Lanciani, Ancient Rome, pp. 162-173.

H. The House of SS. John axd Paul. — This house and
the church (Titulus Byzantis, Titulus Pammachii) built upon it
at a later period are given a place of honor in early itineraries of
pilgrims because they contained the only martyr's tomb within the
walls of the city. The account of the lives of the two brothers
John and Paul, and of their execution under Julian the apostate,
is apocryphal ; but no one who visits the remains of this house
and the records it contains will deny the fact that some one was

Fig. 131. — Plan of the House of SS. .Tolin and Paul, and of the Cliurcli built above it.

murdered or executed for his faith here, and that over the apart-
ment in which the event took place a church was built at a later
age. On this occasion the Roman house was left intact with its
spacious halls and classical decorations to be used as a crypt,
while the basilica was raised above the level of the ceilings. The
murder of the saints seems to have taken place in a narrow pas-
sage (fauces') near the tablinum or reception-room. Here we see

THE HOUSE OF GREGORY THE GREAT 349

the " fenestella coufessionis " by means of whicli pilgrims were
allowed to behold and touch the venerable graves. Two things
strike the visitor : firstly, the variety of the fresco decorations of
the house, which begin with pagan Genii holding festoons, and
end with stiff, uncanny representations of the Passion, of the
ninth and tenth century ; secondly, the fact that such an impor-
tant monument should have been buried and forgotten ^ until
Padre Germano of the Passionists rediscovered it ten or twelve
years ago. Padre Germano has given us a delightful account of
his work in a volume entitled " La casa celimontana dei SS. JNIai'tiri
Giovanni e Paolo scoperta ed illustrata." Rome, Cuggiani, 1894.

This house and another one annexed to the nymphseum of the
gardens of Sallust are the only ones in Rome which show the
third floor in one case, the fourth in the other. The student
walking up the Clivus Scauri, between the house of John and
Paul on the left, and the house and library of Agapetus on the
right, may fancy himself transported into the midst of a street
scene of " declining " Rome towards the end of the sixth century.

I. The House of Gregory the Great. — The " Liber pon-
tificalis " (vol. i. p. 313, edit. Duchense) leaves no doubt that the
present church and nujnastery of S. Gregorio are built on the site
of the paternal house of the great pontiff, son of Gordianus and
Sylvia, of the Petronian branch of the Anicii. The transforma-
tion of the palace into a coenobium, where Gregory and his asso-
ciates lived under the rule of S. Benedict, seems to have taken
place in 575. John the Deacon describes it as placed " within the
walls of the city, on the Clivus Scauri, close to the church of SS.
John and Paul," and as containing an atrium with a fountain of
elaborate design in the middle (nymphwum). The spring, called
"mirabilis immo saluberrimus," was probably the same known
in classic times by the name of Fons jNlercurii. The site of the
piscina can still be traced on the east side of the present chui'ch.
There was an inner court within the clausnra, around which
opened the cells of the monks. The establishment was also fur-
nished with a hostelry for pilgrims and visitors, with stables and
granaries, and with a grand triclinium, in which the monks took
their siesta during the hot hours of the day.

The name of S. Gregorio given to the abbey is comparatively
recent, the old establishment being placed under the patronage of
S. Andrew. His chapel was splendidly decorated with paintings
and mosaics. There were also other chapels or oratories under

1 Parian and ChriMian Rome, p. 159.

350 URBS SACRA REGIONUM XIV

the invocations of the Virgin Mary (the S. Andrea of the present
day) and of S. Barbara (the present triclinium). Save a few bits
of antique walls, which appear here and there under the modern
plastering, nothing is left visible of the home of S. Gregory and
of the monastery " SS. Andrese et Gregorii ad clivum Scauri," one
of the most powerful in central Italy, and the owner of the Cii'cus
jMaximus, of the Septizonium, and of the palace of the Caesars.
The first blow to the institution was struck in 1573, when the
Camaldolese monks took the place of the Benedictines. Cardinal
Scipione Borghese and his architect, Giovanni Soria, destroyed
the old vestibule and the atrium in 1638 ; all the rest was modern-
ized in 1725. I have discovered in the Kupferstich Kabinet at
Stuttgart a sketch by a contemporary of Martin Heemskerk, I'ep-
resenting the Monasterium ad Clivum Scauri before the modern
profanation. I give here a facsimile of this rare design.

fc.-

Fig. 132. — A View of the Church and Monastery of S. Gregorio in the First Half of tlie
Sixteenth Century.

The two leading edifices of the Ctelian hill which remain to
be described are the Temple of Claudius and the Rotunda of
S. Stefano.

VIII. Claudium (Temple of Claudius), begun by Agrippina
the younger, niece and fourth wife of that Emperor. After the

THE TEMPLE OF CLAUDIUS 351

murder of Agrippina, which took place in a. d. 59, Xero her sou
took possession of the unfinished temple and turned it into a
nymphseum and reservoir for the Aqua Claudia, joining it to the
main aqueduct " ad Spem veterem " (Porta Maggiore) by means
of the Areas Cx'elimontani or Arcus Neroniani, which still forms so
conspicuous a featm-e of the Ctelian hill. After the suicide of
Xero, A. D. 68, the place was restored to its original use by Ves-
pasian under the name of " Templum divi Claudii," which the
people shortened into tliat of Claudium. A bull of Ilonorius III.,
dated February 2, 1217, shows that the classic term was still in
use in the thirteenth century (Clodeum). The causes and tlie
date of its final collapse are not known ; but the fact that one of
the travertine capitals from the substructure was made use of in
the reconstruction of the house of SS. John and Paul (first door
on the left on the Clivus Scauri) proves that m

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Full text of "The ruins and excavations of ancient Rome; a companion book for students and travelers"

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